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Thom, Chumbley - 1983 - Stop Chance, Silence Noise
Thom, Chumbley - 1983 - Stop Chance, Silence Noise
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Stop Chance!SilenceNoise!
RENETHOM
Thereforelet us
neverspeak of chance . . .
-Joseph de Maistre
11
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12
Ren6 Thornm
13
14
Rene Thom
This tendencyproperto humankindis whatrendersit superiorto animals,and
its progressin thisgenredistinguishes
nationsand centuriesand definestheir
trueglory.
PierreSimon Laplace, Essai Philosophique
surlesprobabilitis,
1814 edition:"Maitresde la pensee scientifique,"
Paris,
Gauthier-Villars,
1921, pp. 3-4.
But there is more: it can happen that a natural system admits a precise
mathematicaldescription,say an (M) island; thenthe sub-objectsofthe system,
which in this formalismcan be described linguistically,are objects of a simple
form.They are geometricobjects forthisformalism.If one followsthe temporal
evolution described by the mathematical formalism,two cases are possible.
In the firstcase, this evolution preserves the linguisticallydescribable "geometric"objects. This will be the case especially if the evolution is of the "geometric"typeof a translation,which preservesdistances and, therefore,the form
of the objects. Such is the case of systemsdescribing the movement of projectiles in our atmosphere- at our scale. One can speak then of systemshaving
controllableevolution [written(Mc) systems].On the otherhand, ifit is a question of a recurrenttypesystem(which returnsarbitrarilyclose to its initialposition, e.g., the movement of the planets), or still more precisely an "ergodic
mixing" system (like the "baker's transformation"described in the book by
Prigogine and Stengers4),at the end of a littletime, the geometricformstwist
in space to the point of losing theirrecognizable character. Then the linguistic
formalismloses all efficacyfordescribing these forms;the only entitieswhich
remain accessible to descriptionin the asymptoticstateofthe systemare defined
by mean values of invariant measures extended over the whole space. There
exists a quantity,"Kolmogoroff-Sinaientropy,"which describes veryprecisely
this progressiveloss of efficacyoflinguisticformalismin localizing futurestates
of the system. Thus in order to preserve a certain control of the system,one
must pass froma detailed- microscopic- descriptionof the systemto a sketchy,
global descriptionof a statisticalcharacter.This statisticaldegradationof determinism appears as a verygeneral phenomenon- and veryrobustvis-a-visperturbation.It is therethatthe ultimatemotivationofthe so-called laws of chance
is found; what one calls "laws of chance" are in factonly propertiesof the most
general deterministicsystem. We shall speak then of an (Ms) system.5
Phaedra: Speak now about trulygeometricfigures.
Socrates:I'm gettingto that,but I don'tthinkthatI can say betterwhatthey
are thanI did by the exclusionof otherfigures.
Phaedra: You mustsay it all the same.
whicharetracesofthosemoveSocrates:Wellthen,I callthesefigures
"geometric"
mentsthatwe can expressin a fewwords.
Paul Val6ry,Eupalinosou l'Architecte,
Paris, Gallimard,1923, p. 140.
For these (Ms) systems,linguistic describabilityrapidly loses all efficacy,
and only the statisticalmathematical description of the system remains; the
describable, such as a spiral of smoke, which doesn't hesitate to dissipate
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15
into the atmosphere, becomes absolutely indescribable, and this has been
spoken of as a "chaotic evolution." This description of increasing disorder in
the course of time is the one that is usually attributedto systemsof increasing
entropy governed by the second principle of thermodynamics. It is not then
surprising. . . . More astonishingis the emergence of the describable fromthe
indescribable. For it is a fact of everyday experience that our universe is not
a chaos, that one can discern objects therein, things which sometimes prove
to be of a great stability, and which sometimes seem to be born from an
apparently undifferentiatedmedium. How can the describable emerge from
the indescribable?This is fundamentallythe centralproblemwithwhich science
findsitselfconfronted.Sometimes the newlydescribable issues froman equally
describable situation, but the syntactictie which links the new to the old is
unhabitual and surprising. Jacques Monod mentions on this subject the
Spinozist definitionof chance as accidental intersectionof two independent
causal chains: thusthepasserbywhilewalkingwillbe struckby a fallingchimney
pushed by the wind. In this case, it is permissibleto make the process preceding the "catastrophic"factfitinto a deterministicschema ofthe Laplacian type.
The independent causal chains can then be considered like separate motions
of a global dynamic system. The condition of collision between two moving
objects bringsabout a conditionhaving to do withthe initial states.6In mathematical terms, the initial conditions which give birthto collision forma submanifold S of codimension one in the space of the initial data (or in a thin
tubular neighborhood of this manifold S). This is to say the phenomenon is
rare,and thisjustifiesthe surpriseof the observer. One will be able to interpret
the appearance of the catastrophe as the resultof a phenomenon of "focusing,"
topologically analogous to the phenomenon which creates a shock wave in a
fluidmedium in frontof a piston driven by an accelerated motion (RiemannHugoniot phenomeon) or the shock wave created by a supersonic airplane.
The only differenceis that the firstphenomenon requires a strictcontrol of
the initial data, while the second is "structurallystable" and resistsa small perturbationof these data. The conspicuous weakness of Monod's position is that:
the state of the Earth at the moment of the appearance of life is said to have
been in a very special condition, extremelyunstable, and the slightest"noise"
in the preparation of this state would have prevented the appearance of life
and human intelligence.Not only creation,but also continuingcreation,would
have been necessary. Everythingthen pushes us to admit that one encountered rathera situationof the second type- structurallystable: once the Earth
was constitutedin the climatic and chemical conditions of the epoch, life and
thoughtnecessarily had to be born, even in the presence of "small perturbations" of this environment.
To produce the describable fromthe indescribable is preciselythe program
definedby the slogan: "orderthroughnoise." The movementwhich claims this
program, created some thirtyyears ago by von Foerster, has known under
diverse guises a remarkable and persistentsuccess among scholars and epistemologistsof WesternEurope. It is a question, in most cases, of making a theory
of these phenomena of dynamic divergence where a weak perturbationof the
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16
Rene Thom
initialconditionssufficesto createverylarge variationsin the effects.A remarkable textby Maxwell had already, however, offereda startlingpicture of these
situations which are, needless to say, perfectlycompatible with the strictest
deterministicschema.7 In all these cases, one confrontsa singular point of the
dynamics leading to what is called a "bifurcation"(and, if the bifurcationis
slow to manifestitself,it leads to a "catastrophe). The whole mental game of
theoreticiansof"orderthroughfluctuations"(Prigogine-Stengers)has consisted
in mentallyerasingthe global dynamiclandscape - fromnow on deducible from
a complete enough examination of the substratum-to the advantage of the
small triggeringperturbationwhich will collapse the metastabilityof the system
toward an equilibriumoflowerenergy.The artificeconsistsin makingus believe
thatthe subsequent evolution,having spectaculareffects,was effectively
created
the
It
is
as
in
the
from
Maxwell's
"fluctuation."
taken
if,
by
triggering
example
text, one were saying that the spark which set the forestablaze had to create
it. Well this situation is general: a complete enough examination of the substratumpermitsanticipatinga priorithe possibleresultsofthebifurcation,which
existsbeforethe triggeringfluctuation.The role ofthisfluctuation,on one hand,
is to get the process underwayand - eventually- to determineby an apparently
arbitrarychoice the subsequent evolution among all the possible outcomes.
But it does not create this evolution.
Prigogine recognizes the fact implicitlywhen he remarksthat, farfromthe
bifurcation,the statisticsof the fluctuationsare approximatelyGaussian ("bellshaped") around the equilibrium, but that theycease to be so when the value
of instabilityis approached.
This is to claim that it is the underlying deterministicdynamics which
models the statisticsof fluctuationand not the reverse. The very nature of a
fluctuationis to be indescribable (one can give only the statisticsof a set of
fluctuations);as soon as an individualfluctuationgrowsto the pointof takingon
polarized directed characteristics(as soon as it presents correlations of great
range), it can be described, and consequently ceases being a fluctuationto
become a perturbation . . . Then, why this discourse on the initial fluctuation? What does one gain by clothingthe bones of determinismwith a layer
of statisticalflesh?8One will be able, at most, to specifya local modification
of the conditions for the bifurcated solutions to appear, but that will not at
all affectthe phase diagram - the global landscape of possible outcomes-, the
landscape existing beforethe noise affectingthe system. Then why this fascination with the "clinamen," with the small triggeringfluctuation?Let us not
deceive ourselves; the sophism of order throughnoise is also that of the neoDarwinian Monod. Certainly, one must not deny the existence of these fluctuations in a system;but when this systemis structurallystable, the existence
of these fluctuationshas no effectqualitativelyand can be considered as insignificant. That is what the geneticistKimura saw when he affirmedthat the
genetic overflowof populations is "neutral,"that is to say withouteffecton the
phenotype of the species. It is only by loss of structuralstabilitythat fluctuation becomes significant,but onlyin the frameworkof a pre-existingbifurcation.
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I can hardly explain this fascination with the "clinamen," with the small
fluctuation initiating large events, except by a certain literary affectation.
Plunging the evolution of phenomena into a sort of "artisticblur," imagining
oneself at the crossroads, and by an involuntaryflickof the fingerhurlingthe
world into an abyss of successive catastrophes . . . Becoming Cleopatra's nose,
or Hercules between vice and virtue: Michel Serres has many times drawn
us into these critical crossroads of evolution. But, on the rational plane, what
remains for us of these imaginary voyages but the pleasure that we took in
followingthem?
The formula"order throughnoise" can, however, admit of a less disagreeable interpretation:the Curie principle which asserts that "every symmetryof
causes is found again in the effects"is well known. Well, this principle runs
into trouble in a great number of phenomena, notably in hydrodynamics.But
there also the observed breakings of symmetryare not arbitrary,and a sufficientlydetailed theorycannot miss definingall the subgroups in which a given
froma cylindrical
symmetrycan break. The situationthereagain is not different
in the direction
will
fall
The
on
its
pencil
point.
pencil standing vertically
data. It should
of
the
initial
with
the
a
minimal
symmetry
departure
imposed by
be remarked, moreover, that in this case, one goes froma larger to a smaller
symmetry:one can thereforelegitimatelyspeak of the creationof disorderrather
than of the creation of order.
And this recalls the wariness with which it is proper to treat all these disof systems.
coursesbuilt on order,disorder,complexity(even hypercomplexity!)
that
What a heavy dossier could be constructedfromthe bold assertions
people
have claimed to have justifiedby thermodynamicsand the second principle ...
There are firstthose who, by an abusive extrapolation- but it is a venial sin have applied the second principle to the entire universe and have risked predictingthe unavoidable thermaldeath of our world. Graver is the case of those
who have played inconsideratelywiththe notionsof order and complexity.One
must see, in effect,that the notion of order is a fundamentallymorphological
notion, and that it reposes in finalanalysis on a geometric,spatial description
of a datum. There is always underlyingsuch a datum, a substratumformed
of interchangeable elements, whether it is a question of geometric points or
elementaryequiprobable events. Now, in this genre of discourse, such a reference is in general never made, because in general it is impossible to make.
Even more so, in systemswhich presentdifferenthierarchicallevels of organization, the notion of order is "relative"to a certain level of organization, and
could not be considered as absolute. Thus, in a molecular system,perfectdisorder, absolute at the scale of the molecule, can at the macroscopic scale be
considered as a perfectorder, since all the points of the medium have the same
observable properties. Atlan plays on this ambivalence of the notion of order
to justifyhis principleof"orderthroughnoise." It is a question here of a correct
idea, but of one whose fecundityto explain a specificmorphogenesis appears
very limited.
All the considerations of the ineluctable growth of disorder are already
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Rene Thom
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Rene Thom
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3. We place aside herethe pure and simplerecordingof roughempiricaldata like the atlas
of photographswhichconstitute
the map of the sky. . .
4. La Nouvelle
Alliance(Paris, 1979), p. 246.
5. (Ms) systemsare differential
whichhave theproperty
of"sensitivity
to initialcondisystems
thedistanceoftwomovingpointsm(t),m'(t) issuing
tions"accordingto D. Ruelle'sterminology:
fromtwoneighboring
pointsm(0), m'(0), increases- at leastin thebeginning-as an exponential
function
ofthetimet. Thesesystems
-to systems
saidtobe of"weakstability"
correspond-probably
in La Nouvelle
Smale'saxiomA)
Alliance,
p. 248. Numeroussystems
(thoseforexamplewhichsatisfy
exhibitthispropertyin a stablemanner.
6. For example,ifone has twostreetsintersecting
each otherat rightangles,whoseaxes are
theCartesianaxes OX, OY oftheplane OXY, twovehicleswhichat theinstantt = 0 are located
at theabscissapointsxo, y = 0 and x = 0, y = yo,and suppliedrespectively
with
respectively
uniformvelocitiesdx/dt= a, dy/dt= b willcollide0 ifthe conditionxo/a = yo/bis satisfied.
This relationdefinesthehypersurface
(S) in thespace oftheinitialconditionswhichis discussed
in the text.
7. The roleof singularities
in dynamicshad alreadybeen pointedout in 1880 by Boussinesq
who believedthathe had inauguratedthe"crisisof science"(sup.).
thesystemhas a quantityofpoten"In all suchcasesthereis one commoncircumstance,
intomotion,but whichcannotbegin
tial energy,whichis capable of beingtransformed
to attainwhich
tillthe systemhas reacheda certainconfiguration,
to be so transformed
ofwork,whichin certaincases maybe infinitesimally
small,and
requiresan expenditure
in generalbears no definiteproportionto the energydevelopedin consequencethereof.
For example,therockloosed by frostand balancedon a singularpointofthemountainthelittleworkwhichsetstheworlda-fightside,thelittlesparkwhichkindlesthegreatforest,
a manfromdoinghiswill,thelittlesporewhichblights
ing,thelittlescruplewhichprevents
or idiots.
all the potatoes,thelittlegemmulawhichmakesus philosophers
Quotation fromJ. C. Maxwell in The Life ofJamesClerkMaxwell.L. Campbell and
W. Garnett.London: MacMillan, 1969, p. 443.
8. Paraphraseoftheformula
describetheBKW method:"putting
bywhichtheEnglishphysicists
some quantumfleshon classicalbones."(Translator'snote: thismethodis used forthe solution
of problemsof wave propagation.)
9. I am alludinghereto theinterpretation
ofhydrodynamic
turbulence
proposedbyD. Ruelle
whenconfronted
withthe empirical
and F. Takens-an interpretation
whichraisesdifficulties
of turbulentislandsin a laminarzone.
morphology
see therecentarticle
10. On strangeattractors
and theproperty
ofsensitivity
to initialconditions,
is
no. 108 (February1980), pp. 132-144. The Englishtranslation
by D. Ruelle in La Recherche,
in TheMathematical
2 (1980), no. 3, pp. 126-137.
Intelligencer
threebodyproblemhas
11. The worksof Kolmogoroff,
Arnol'dand Moser on the restricted
a genericHamiltoniansystem
shownthat,contrary
to beliefsstillverywidespread
amongphysicists,
is not necessarilyergodic;sincetheessentialalgorithmofGibbs is based on thelocal ergodicity
ofthedynamicsofsystems
ofparticles(gas), one seesthesuspicionwithwhichone shouldapplyit.
12. Allusionto thetheoryofcriticalphenomenafoundedon therenormalization
group(K. Wilson's theory).In a moregeneralmanner,all the so-calledexact modelsof statisticalmechanics
(forexample,the model of a gas lattice)sufferfromevidentunreality.
13. Thus in thepresenceofa classicaldeterministic
system(M,X) one willoftenhave to substituteforit a stochasticmodelbearingon a probability
distribution
m(x) whoseevolutionwillbe
governedby the Fokker-Planck
equationassociatedwithit: am/at = X(m) whereX is the Lie
derivative.By doingthis,one has onlychangedspace substituting
forthe originalmanifoldM
the space C(m) of real functionssmoothon (M).
14. Aside fromtheverylivelytraditionin FranceofChristianidealism,it is necessaryalso to
acrosstheRhine(theFrankfurt
in opposition
totheircounterparts
evokethecaseofMarxistthinkers;
School), FrenchMarxistshave too oftenseen theirthoughtsterilizedby politicaldogmatism.
**Translator's note: See The Parasite, trans. Lawrence R. Schler (Baltimore, 1982).
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