Summary
Melvyn Bragg examines whether world is a fundamentally chaotic or orderly place. When Newton published his Principia Mathematica in 1687 his work was founded on one simple message: Nature has laws and we can find them. His explanation of the movements of the planets, and of gravity, was rooted in the principle that the universe functions like a machine and its patterns are predictable. Newton’s equations not only explained why night follows day but, importantly, predicted that night would continue to follow day for evermore. Three hundred years later Newton’s principles were thrown into question by a dread word that represented the antithesis of his vision of order: that word was Chaos. According to Chaos Theory, the world is far more complicated than was previously thought. Instead of the future of the universe being irredeemably fixed, we are, in fact, subject to the whims of random unpredictability. Tiny actions can change the world by setting off an infinite chain of reactions: famously, if a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil - it could cause a tornado in Berlin. So what’s the answer? Is the universe chaotic or orderly? If it’s all so complicated, why does night still follow day? And what is going on in that most complex machine of all - the brain - to filter and construct our perception of the world? With Susan Greenfield, Senior Research Fellow, Lincoln College, Oxford University; David Papineau, Professor of the Philosophy of Science, Kings College, London; Neil Johnson,University Lecturer in Physics at Oxford University.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | Thanks for downloading the In Our Time Podcast. For more details about In Our Time and for our terms of use, |
| 0:41.6 | please go to BBC.co. UK forward slash radio for |
| 0:45.3 | I hope you enjoy the program. Hello when Newton published his |
| 0:49.7 | Principia Mathematica in 1687 his work was founded on the idea that nature has laws and we can find |
| 0:56.3 | them. His explanations of the movements of the planets and of gravity were rooted in the |
| 1:01.1 | principle that the universe functions like a machine and its patterns are |
| 1:04.3 | predictable. Newton's equations not only explained why night follows day, but importantly predicted |
| 1:09.7 | that night would continue to follow day forevermore. |
| 1:13.0 | 300 years later, Newton's principles were thrown into question by dread words that represented |
| 1:17.7 | the antithesis of his vision of order, quantum physics and chaos. |
| 1:21.5 | We looked at quantum physics a couple of weeks ago. |
| 1:23.4 | According to Chaos Theory, the world is far more complicated than was previously |
| 1:27.5 | thought. Instead of the future of the universe being irredeemably fixed, we can be |
| 1:31.9 | subject to random unpredictability. Tiny actions can change |
| 1:36.0 | the world by setting off an infinite chain of reactions. Famously, if a butterfly flaps its wings |
| 1:40.8 | in Brazil, it could cause a tornado in Berlin. Chaos theory then led to complexity |
... |
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