Is Chaos Indeterministic?

Abstract

Although classical mechanics (CM) is a successful, mature and stable theory, our understanding of CM has undergone substantial growth and refinement over the last twenty-five years. The recent explosion in the study of chaotic dynamics has uncovered a rich variety of behavior in simple macrophysical systems previously unsuspected by the vast majority of the physics community (Hilborn, 1994). One of the essential features of chaos is sensitivity to initial conditions. In CM the behavior of simple physical systems is described using models such as the harmonic oscillator which capture the main features of the systems in question (Giere, 1988). Some models of CM evolve in much the same way for all nearly identical initial states. Chaotic models, however, evolve in radically different ways in a relatively short time period and may be extremely sensitive to quantum fluctuations. Jesse Hobbs (1991) and Stephen Kellert (1993) have argued that quantum events can influence chaotic macro-physical systems through sensitivity to initial conditions. Such arguments raise questions about whether chaos is indeterministic and what types of models are appropriate for capturing the dynamics of such systems.