The most interesting feature of chaos in populations is that it can be produced by exactly defined properties of real organisms. Contrary to previous belief, chaotic patterns are not necessarily the product of randomly acting forces of the environment that rock the population up and down. In this case and in many other complex physical phenomena, chaos theory provides an authentically deep principle of nature. It says that extremely complicated, outwardly indecipherable patterns can be determined by small, measurable changes within the system.
But, again, which systems, which changes? That is the nub of the problem. None of the elements of complexity theory has anything like the generality and the fidelity to factual detail we wish from theory. None has triggered an equivalent cascade of theoretical innovations and practical applications. What does complexity theory need to be successful in biology?
(Edward O. Wilson: p. 90)
In other words, the idea that complicated patterns of behavior may be explained by small, measurable changes (which is at the very core of chaos theory) is perfectly compatible with the idea of consilience. As a matter of fact, Stephen Wolfram's A New Kind of Science can be seen precisely as one attempt to combine them both. However, as Wilson points out, chaos theory has failed to deliver on its promises so far. Sure, there is still plenty of work to do in the field and we cannot completely rule out a sudden discovery that will revolutionize scientific knowledge, but the reality is that as of today it doesn't offer the answers that we are after.
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