Look around you. Everyday objects, linked together. How? By mathematics. Not a simple design, but a complex wonderful array of chaos models called fractals. These "fractals" are ever changing, always on the brink of a different state. Does this sound like math? Believe it or not, all of the words in front of you are true. First of all, fractals can be many things. A tree, a piece of paper, a blade of grass. All fractals are models of CHAOS! What is so amazing about a fractal is its incredible link to mathematics. If you have ever studied graphing, you may remember that an equation is plugged in, and graphed to show the data. Well, the objects, imperfections, in life, tiny variables, play the part of "X" and "Y" on the graph, which is the outcome. However, this sort of graph is on a different scale. Whenever you graph equation such as y=mx+2, you graph a single line. But, when you graph by the chaos approach, the equation changes. y2= mx2+2 is probably as equation that could be used. Still, there are hundreds, maybe thousands of variables, so the powers could get to the 100's. Thousands of little dots cover the graph and until the late 70's, no one had bothered to graph the equations, let alone connect them. However, computers today can graph and plot out those equations to form models of fractals! So, does that mean that we can predict the future by graphing the variables in life and combining them into an equation. Not necessarily. Because of the fact that fractals are changeable, it is highly improbable that you could graph it since the variables are always changing. But, maybe there are "rules" that the fractals follow. Maybe the universe is planned. So a person could foresee major events, but not the little details. That is the beauty of chaos. Changing, not "unstable" like most people think. After all, a fractal is calculated. For chaos, however changing and unstable it may seem, it is always essentially right. It's in the numbers!

- Jessica -

I t is true that Chaos Theory does hold some truths to the mapping of occurrences in nature, e.g.. Tree trunks, leaves and weather etc. etc. But these occurrences are always changing. This is due to another theory, the 'Butterfly Effect' from a theorist called Lorenz ( I think ). Basically it states that the beating of a Butterflies wings in one part of the world could have ramifications in other parts of the world, e.g.. the beating of a Butterflies wings in Europe could cause minute disturbances in the air around it which cause minute changes around that, so on and so on. Until eventually the change is so great that it is able to cause a change in the weather or worse a severe storm in parts of the US.

Now I know that what I have just typed might sound like a load of rubbish, but think for just a moment.

Isn't what I have just typed describing Chaos Theory. How minute changes effect the outcome of an event. Perhaps outcome is not the right word as an outcome is never really achieved, just the same as there is no answer to the Mendelbrot set.

And after all doesn't the meaning of the word fractal have something to do with the minute changes ?

Yes it is easy to see and relate the theory of Chaos to our past. But the trick comes to relating it to the future, and that is what needs to be understood. But until that day comes ( and personally I don't think that it ever will ) people will relate their personal outcomes on something other than Chaos. Never believing that perhaps it happened because of the beatings of a Butterflies wings half a world away. Do we as humans think that there has to be an answer to every problem which we find?. Perhaps we are looking for an answer in the numbers and equations when really there is no answer to be found.

- Graham Dawes -

OK PEOPLE, CHAOS, ONE OF MY FAVORITE ASPECTS IN THIS EXISTENCE.

I DIFFER FROM JES IN A FEW WAYS REGARDING THE FACT THAT CERTAIN EVENTS CAN BE PREDICTED. SHE POSTULATED THAT THE "LITTLE THINGS" CANNOT BE PREORDAINED, BUT LARGER EVENTS COULD BE PLANNED. HOW WOULD THAT BE POSSIBLE IF ONE CONSIDERS THAT ANY LARGER EVENT IS INFLUENCED BY PEOPLE, WHO'S ACTIONS ARE SUBJECT TO A MYRIAD OF INFLUENCES?

I AM WILLING TO ADMIT THAT SOME EVENTS COULD BE PRE-ARRANGED, BUT ONLY EVENTS THAT ARE NOT AFFECTED IN ANY WAY BY BIOLOGICAL ORGANISMS. ANY EVENT THAT RELIES ON OUR FLUIDIC NATURE IS SUBJECT TO OUR CHAOTIC WAYS.

SUCH WORLD CHANGING EVENTS LIKE THE DISCOVERY OF THE ATOM, COULD, IN THEORY, BE DELAYED BY A SIMPLE CAR ACCIDENT, OR SUCH. IN ADDITION, JESSICA IS WAY TOO SMART TO BELIEVE, TRULY, THAT ANY EVENT IS PREORDAINED. SHE IS PLAYING W/YOUR HEAD IN OTHER WORDS.

IT'S ALL IN THE PEOPLE, NOT THE NUMBERS, I HOPE!

- SCOTT -