Column about chaos and control

A short column I wrote that will hopefully get you interested into chaos theory called "The infinite history of everyday things"

As humans we are always longing to be in control. In order to stay in control we have developed an impressive amount of controlling devices. Weather stations to give us a sneak preview into future weather. Social networks on the internet and mobile phones to keep connected to friends, even if they are on the other side of the earth. And of course television and radio to get constant updates from important events happing in the world. We surround ourselves with all these media to give us the feeling that we are control. What sometimes can be hard to realize is that most events in natural systems have an infinite amount of precise parameters to let them be able to occur. The infinite amount of parameters makes us have to accept that even how hard we try, we are unable to predict certain things. We call this inability to predict because of the nature of the system, chaos.

What I find particularly interesting about chaos theory is that we as humans regard ourselves as intelligent creatures, because we are able to predict and rely that certain things will happen, while in fact we are unable to fully do so. If you want to know all the actions necessary to happen before you perceive everyday things in life, you’ll be overwhelmed and undoubtedly unable to retrieve all information. Every action in time is linked to each other. If action A happens on the other side of the world, this could set a chain reaction letting you get run over by a car 2 years later. It also means that is gives you the possibility to think about how your life would have evolved differently if you decided not to quit your supermarket job or started doing aerobics dancing classes.

Generally speaking most humans don’t like the feeling of not being in total control. I, unlike those humans, find a feeling of comfort in chaos. I like not being in control, unknowing of what will happen next and where I stand in 2 years. This is what for me makes life special, the ability for extraordinary things to happen. Meeting a random stranger in the train, and maybe this person changes your life in a way you never could have imagined. So instead of trying to be in control, accept uncertainty and enjoy life were chaos may take you.