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Blog is moving to www.marthacarlin.com
A few weeks ago I wrote about the chaos in my garden - my daughter's description, not necessarily mine. I find the them of trying to find "order" in my life keeps coming back over and over. Moving my blog over to this URL I am still missing a few key elements from my other site. One of them, my oldest, in length of years not in age, friend Tracy pointed out was the comment "you never know what you might find here". That is probably the key element of description for a my blog. I pull together a seemingly random collection of topics and thoughts that come to mind. So maybe its time to revisit Chaos.
What is Chaos?
I mentioned the book Sync by Steven Strogatz in my previous entry http://amzn.to/qz51bZ . As I was flipping through the pages recalling different parts of the book I came across a discussion of chaos. Here is the discussion from the book that drove home the key "theme", if there is one, of my blog:
"The first step is to understand chaos itself. Unfortunately, many of us begin with faulty preconceptions about what chaos is like. Part of the confusion stems from the word itself. In colloquial usage, chaos refers to a state that only appears random, but is actually generated by nonrandom laws. As such, it occupies an unfamiliar middle ground between order and disorder. It looks erratic superficially, yet it contains cryptic pattersn and is governed by rigid rules. It's predictable in the short run but unpredictable in the long run."
I really like the thought of my bog occupying the middle ground between order and disorder.
But then I read on in the book to further discussion of chaos.
"Another subtlety: In chaos, every point is a point o finstability. It's worse than the quandary face by Robert Frost's traveler in "The Road Not Taken" (see earlier post - more lessons from the trail) - a life ruled by chaos is even more precarious. Every moment would be a moment of truth. Every decision would have long-term consequences that would alter your life beyond recognition."
Wow, that really gets my head spinning. A person could go nuts going back and hashing over decisions from the past and trying to figure out how they changed the present. Even worse, a person could get totally bogged down in indecision out of fear of making the wrong decision and going down the wrong road. I think many people are actually like this - terribly indecisive. Not me. In fact, if its possible, I am probably too decisive about everything. I make my decisions from my gut and therefore don't always consider every single bit of information or fact available.
What about you? Is there chaos to your life? Are you finding order? How decisive are you? And is every moment a moment of truth?
Showing posts with label steven strogatz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label steven strogatz. Show all posts
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Why are we so out of sync?
This blog is moving to
As I was sorting through the books on the shelves trying to decide which of my “babies”to part with in the garage sale I came upon a book I read several years back called “Sync –How Order Emerges From Chaos in the Universe,Nature and Daily Life”by Steven Strogatz. Sounds a bit dry to you I imagine. It did to me at first too but it was recommended by a friend so I undertook it. I have to say it took me a long while to finish it as I undertook it as a “bathroom”read,meaning I only read a snippet here or there when I made my trip to the loo.
As I picked it up off the shelf this time and flipped back through the pages I remembered some of instances of sync discussed in the book.
Journal Science,1917 ”Some twenty years ago I saw,or thought I saw,a synchronal or simultaneous flashing of fireflies. I could hardly believe my eyes,for such a thing to occur among insects is certainly contrary to all natural laws.”–Philip Laurent
For the next twenty years the Journal Science published multiple articles on this mysterious sychrony. The book goes on to discuss numerous instances of sync in the world –brain waves,heart beats,menstrual cycles of women in close proximity,clocks,leaves of plants that open and close simultaneously. Most of these examples are both synchronic and rhythmic. But synchronicity doesn’t have to be rhythmic. For example,the various sections of an orchestra –strings,woodwinds,etc. are synchronous as they come in to play in a piece but not necessarily rhythmic.
In any event,my point here is that the universe is drawn to synchronicity. If that is so,then why can’t we,as a society,as individuals be more in sync? We are once again in a political cycle. Well really,these cycles are not cycles at all,they are perpetual states of re-election. But these campaigns seem to draw us further and further away from sync with each other as they are designed to focus on our differences rather than where we are alike. In religion,we have battles all over the world and here at home on who has the “right”religion,instead of focusing on where we are in sync. There are many basic foundational beliefs in the religions of the world that are the same. Can’t we focus our attention there to be more in sync?
I’ve stopped watching the news for the most part. It just seems designed to aggravate and induce fear and anxiety. NPR’s Talk of the Nation this week did a piece on the media hype behind Hurricane Irene and whether or not it was too much. http://n.pr/qpYULM I think the same could be said for the earthquake in Washington,DC the week before. We had the same level of earthquake out here in Colorado the same day and there was almost no news about at all. We live in this age of constant media bombardment of “news”that’s not really news. Its opinion,speculation and hype. How do we stop this crazy cycle? I’d like to see something like “the Good News Network” or the “Just the Facts M’am Network”. Wonder if that would even be possible today?
At the same time we are bombarding ourselves and our children with these images and voices of discord,we are also failing in our ability to have a civil discourse about any meaningful topic. Can’t people agree to disagree and be respectful about it? Why can’t we talk about our differences of opinion as the great debaters who founded our nation did? I just don’t get it. I like to read about and talk to people about different points of view. That’s the only way to really learn. Ask questions and listen. Maybe you won’t change your view from black to white but maybe,just maybe,you will add a shade of gray to your point of view.
As a nation,as a world,and as individuals we desperately need to give this topic some serious thought and try to turn ourselves toward SYNC. That doesn’t mean we all have to be alike,just that we move in better concert with each other -like the symphony.
As I was sorting through the books on the shelves trying to decide which of my “babies”to part with in the garage sale I came upon a book I read several years back called “Sync –How Order Emerges From Chaos in the Universe,Nature and Daily Life”by Steven Strogatz. Sounds a bit dry to you I imagine. It did to me at first too but it was recommended by a friend so I undertook it. I have to say it took me a long while to finish it as I undertook it as a “bathroom”read,meaning I only read a snippet here or there when I made my trip to the loo.
As I picked it up off the shelf this time and flipped back through the pages I remembered some of instances of sync discussed in the book.
Journal Science,1917 ”Some twenty years ago I saw,or thought I saw,a synchronal or simultaneous flashing of fireflies. I could hardly believe my eyes,for such a thing to occur among insects is certainly contrary to all natural laws.”–Philip Laurent
For the next twenty years the Journal Science published multiple articles on this mysterious sychrony. The book goes on to discuss numerous instances of sync in the world –brain waves,heart beats,menstrual cycles of women in close proximity,clocks,leaves of plants that open and close simultaneously. Most of these examples are both synchronic and rhythmic. But synchronicity doesn’t have to be rhythmic. For example,the various sections of an orchestra –strings,woodwinds,etc. are synchronous as they come in to play in a piece but not necessarily rhythmic.
In any event,my point here is that the universe is drawn to synchronicity. If that is so,then why can’t we,as a society,as individuals be more in sync? We are once again in a political cycle. Well really,these cycles are not cycles at all,they are perpetual states of re-election. But these campaigns seem to draw us further and further away from sync with each other as they are designed to focus on our differences rather than where we are alike. In religion,we have battles all over the world and here at home on who has the “right”religion,instead of focusing on where we are in sync. There are many basic foundational beliefs in the religions of the world that are the same. Can’t we focus our attention there to be more in sync?
I’ve stopped watching the news for the most part. It just seems designed to aggravate and induce fear and anxiety. NPR’s Talk of the Nation this week did a piece on the media hype behind Hurricane Irene and whether or not it was too much. http://n.pr/qpYULM I think the same could be said for the earthquake in Washington,DC the week before. We had the same level of earthquake out here in Colorado the same day and there was almost no news about at all. We live in this age of constant media bombardment of “news”that’s not really news. Its opinion,speculation and hype. How do we stop this crazy cycle? I’d like to see something like “the Good News Network” or the “Just the Facts M’am Network”. Wonder if that would even be possible today?
At the same time we are bombarding ourselves and our children with these images and voices of discord,we are also failing in our ability to have a civil discourse about any meaningful topic. Can’t people agree to disagree and be respectful about it? Why can’t we talk about our differences of opinion as the great debaters who founded our nation did? I just don’t get it. I like to read about and talk to people about different points of view. That’s the only way to really learn. Ask questions and listen. Maybe you won’t change your view from black to white but maybe,just maybe,you will add a shade of gray to your point of view.
As a nation,as a world,and as individuals we desperately need to give this topic some serious thought and try to turn ourselves toward SYNC. That doesn’t mean we all have to be alike,just that we move in better concert with each other -like the symphony.
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