David Peat

SixFROM CLOCKWORK TO CHAOSWe have already seen a numberof ways in which that pivotal year 1900 stood as the watershed betweencertainty and uncertainty. This chapter introduces yet anotherof these revolutions—the introduction of chaos into the heart of science.Today chaos theory, along with its associated notions of fractals,strange attractors, and self-organizing systems, has been applied toeverything from sociology to psychology, from business consulting tothe neurosciences. As a metaphor it has found its way into contemporarynovels. As a technique it is responsible for the special effects of somany movies.Chaos theory has become ubiquitous, but to discover its originswe must go back to 1900 and a study made by the mathematician andphilosopher Henri Poincaré. Poincaré was investigating another ofthose certainties, one that the human race had lived with since thebeginning of time: “The sun will always rise in the morning and set inthe evening.” In questioning the inevitability of things he was challengingour certainty that the earth’s orbit around the sun will continue to115