METHOD (Scientific) and CHAOS
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 2120 ▶ |
| Object type | Epistemology, ontology or semantics, Methodology or model |
J. CRUTCHFIELD et al point out that: “The existence of chaos affects the scientific method itself. The classical approach to verifying a theory is to make predictions and test them against experimental data. If the phenomena are chaotic, however, long-term predictions are intrinsically impossible. This has to be taken into account in judging the merits of a theory. The process of verifying a theory thus becomes a much more delicate operation, relying on statistical and geometric properties rather than on detailed prediction” (1989, p.48).
It is by now clear that only the most simple systems — those whose dynamics involves only two, or maximally in some cases three independent initial conditions — can be studied by using the traditional method, which should, from now on, be considered merely as a specific aspect of a quite more general method to be applied to complex systems whose determinism is merely global and not narrowly constraining. The principles of this new method are only starting to emerge now.
See in this respect the insightful comments of the quoted authors (p.48-49).