Chaos and creativity

Years back I had written this article for our internal newsletter……..

Most of us have a fondness for an orderly life. For every situation in work & life, we seek to follow a method, conform to a system, derive an equation, apply a formula, cast into a mould. The complicated system of the universe has been explained to us by scientists through a few simple equations. The earth rotates on its axis causing night & day, the earth revolves round the sun causing the four seasons. When you throw a ball from a high building it has the tendency to fall downwards, when you heat water at 100⁰ C it vaporizes. All in order- a set of repetitive linear structures which operate with exact precision and boring uniformity over and over for an eternity. Of course, our day to day life would have been impossible without the element of “Order”. But we need to move out of this straitjacketed familiarity of order & delve into the unexplained and unknown world of “Chaos”.

There has always been this disturbing element of disorder within order, of variation where predictability was expected. The wobbles in the planets orbits, the arrhythmatic heart beat, the growing demand for goods even in a scenario of rising prices. This has always been the classical dilemma of physicists, mathematicians, biologists, economists and for years had been explained away as “deviation”. But such monstrous erratic un patterned behaviour of nature, animals & humans could not be termed as mere deviation. The other word for it was “Chaos”. Where chaos begins, classical science stops. Since Edward Lorenz, of MIT, hit on the concept in 1961(“All great discoveries are made by mistake”), there has been a revolution in ideas. “Chaos” occurs when simple things behave in complicated and unexpected ways – there is no way anyone can predict how they would behave in the future. But the situation is not as chaotic as it may appear at first sight,  It is just that the systems are so complicated, the design so intricate, the sensitivity to initial conditions so immense that it is extremely difficult to understand the chaos & productively use it.

To understand chaos is to understand the underlying order in it. It requires one to fight off the urge to apply theories to  practical situations. Patience and attention to detail is also required to study   how the smallest of things can cause huge impacts. The Chaos theory has been used in every field right from predicting weather patterns to predicting stock movements. The static models & linear equation have given way to dynamic non- linear models.  The chaos theory hypothesizes that the universe is so systematically connected that tiny and seemingly unrelated incidents can lead to huge happenings. Lorenz, the pioneer of this concept called it the “butterfly effect”. He asked, “Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a hurricane in Texas?”

In mathematics, in statistics it is used to analyze data that was earlier deemed as random. In physics, to evaluate turbulence leading to the understanding of self-organizing systems and system states. In biology, it is used to better understand the working of the brain, the heart & the impact of genetics.

In the field of economics & finance, the traditional laws that say price determines changes in demand & supply have been replaced with the view that price is the last thing to change & depends on a lot of factors. The earlier “ceteris paribus” meaning “other things remaining constant” is no longer used. Offshoots from the chaos theory include The Random Walk theory which says that price of a stock in the past does not have any implication on the stock price in the future.  This has revolutionized stock market research & work on predicting business cycles.In market research, it has opened up a vista of new techniques for data analysis, as the traditional methods of linear trend have thrown up incorrect results.

The application of chaos theory to the field of research is immense. Experiments are no longer done in a controlled environment. The element of “Noise” is regularly introduced to understand the reactions to various combinations of change factors. This has led to better understanding of systems, designing of more robust items, be it machinery or software.

In software development, due to the complexity & dynamic nature of the parts, a chaotic approach is used where developers can creatively solve problems using multiple unconventional approaches.  This chaotic, creative, iterative approach brings out the best in the developer. This is called scrum & allows complete freedom to developers to work freely within specific goals which is known as sprint.

Chaos theory offers a lot of solace to parents. We often wonder why two siblings, with the same set of parents, brought up in the same environment, with similar value system behave so differently. The way a child transforms into an adult is dependent on such an infinite number of variables, right from conditions in the womb to the solitary snide remark made by a passerby. It is not merely one’s genes & parenting but a host of uncontrollable factors that make an influence.

The standard medical model holds that a healthy body has rather simple rhythms. But now it is seen that the healthy body has a lot of innate variability. A departure from this “Chaos “points to an illness. This recognition of chaos has led to breakthrough findings in the field of brain, heart & lung functioning. A lot of understanding was developed in leukemia, heart failure, epilepsy, parkinson’s just to name a few.

To psychologists, the application of chaos theory to brain research has evoked considerable interest. They are mapping the chaos in the brain during sleep & wakefulness using various devices to check rapid eye movement, motor nerves functioning and so on. The clinical approach to the human mind – that the mind is a resemblance of a digital computer has been replaced by a wholesome approach to the subject.

The research in chaos theory has brought home the fact that the complex and seemingly erratic behaviour that one observes is the result of a number of minor interconnected events. The learning for an organization, be it a corporate or non corporate body, is  that one cannot afford to ignore or dub as irrelevant any event, however trivial it may seem. A modern dynamic organization, as it pushes itself towards continuous change & development is in a constant sate of perturbed equilibrium. If the chaos can be intelligently handled & maneuvered, it will lead to a sound & evolved organization. All chaos leads to a settlement, a self defined order.

The tenets are of chaos are simple:

What seems as chaos is actually a set of complex, intricate & interdependent systems working together. The smallest of incidents can cause significantly big events.  Everything depends on a host of factors, some which may seem very unimportant. A study of the past, of trend may lead to erroneous findings. The thorough study of a system or a situation does not happen by breaking it down to the most granular level but by holistically viewing it as a whole. Utmost care needs to be taken before  we generalize things.

The chaos theory applies to every sphere of our life, be it in the analyzing of a bug in software or in reducing weight.  As individuals we need to realize that out of chaos is born a new order. Change is inevitable and change causes turbulence. But this turbulence is welcome as our creative juices start flowing only when we are jolted out of our stable comfort zone.  It is only creativity which balances order & chaos and the super- inventor is born!