Instability and Chaos Physical Models of Everyday Life

The study of instabilities has long been a central aspect of physical theories and experimental investigation. Chaotic behaviour is a more recently recognized general feature of physical systems, expecially hard-driven dynamical systems. This review describes physical models illustrating these phenomena and seeks to indicate their application to understanding a variety of problems outside physics. Thus, the occurrence of instabilities is advanced as the reason why different sciences have developed independently, and why their results cannot be regarded as deducible from the fundamental laws of physics. In particular, sociology and political science are seen as attempting to deal with extreme cases of chaotic behaviour resulting from widespread instability. Finally, a simple physical model of stop-go oscillations is described, and interpreted as a warning against over-optimistic expectations that modern attempts at participatory democracy are compatible with a stable society

Chaotic · Democracy · Epistemology · Everyday life · Instability · Mechanics · Physical law · Physical science · Physical system · Physics · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Statistical physics · Theoretical physics · Variety (cybernetics · Computer Science · Law · Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence · Philosophy · Artificial Intelligence