Introductory Remarks

Abstract

In analogy with an old anarchist slogan, chaos is not the absence of order, but it represents a higher form of it (Fig. 1.1). Nowadays, chaos has become popular. Scientists even started to develop their own understanding of chaos by playing on computers with simple algorithms like, for example, the logistic map. New insights into the foundations of science and nature were obtained. There are chaotic deterministic systems whose determinism cannot be experienced in principle. The question whether God plays dice or not may be seen in a new light. Yet, besides these deep philosophical implications, chaos has opened a door for scientists to create lovely pictures of fractals on a computer screen. The subjective opinion of their beauty is founded on the harmony exhibited, which probably corresponds to that of nature. Without overstating, one might claim that the field of nonlinear dynamics and chaos is in keeping with today’s Zeitgeist, where not only is unconventionality becoming conventional, but where it is also more fashionable to play with computers than to play in nature.