1399: Chaos

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 06:04, 25 July 2014 by 108.162.238.175 (talk) (Explanation)
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Chaos
Although the oral exam for the doctorate was just 'can you do that weird laugh?'
Title text: Although the oral exam for the doctorate was just 'can you do that weird laugh?'

Explanation

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This comic pokes fun at the 1993 film Jurassic Park, which featured a theme park filled with cloned dinosaurs. In the film, chaos ensues when all the dinosaurs escape and begin terrorizing their creators. The reference to "phase space, nonlinear equations, and strange attractors" is a direct quotation from the movie, in which Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), a mathematician and chaos theorist brought in to inspect the park prior to its grand opening, suggests that the dinosaurs' escaping could have been predicted based on mathematical chaos models.

Cueball explains that although he is as much of an expert on chaos theory as Dr. Malcolm, he has never been able to find where said equations predict that dinosaurs would escape. Cueball's confusion highlights the contrast between the mathematical definition of chaos - shown in the graphs on the whiteboard - and its common meaning - a state of utter confusion or disorder.

The comic may be timely, as a third sequel to the film is scheduled for release next year.

Transcript

[Cueball is staring at a whiteboard covered with equations and graphs. The dragon curve and a schematic of the bifurcation diagram of the logistic map (both famous figures from chaos theory) are visible.]
Cueball: For two decades, I've studied phase space, nonlinear equations, and strange attractors.
Cueball: And there is nothing in here about dinosaurs escaping.


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Discussion

Dr. Ian Malcolm: Dr. Sattler, Dr. Grant, you've heard of chaos theory? No? Non-linear equations? Strange attractions? Dr. Sattler, I refuse to believe that you aren't familiar with the concept of attraction.[1] 173.245.62.62 05:09, 25 July 2014 (UTC)

Dr. Ian Malcolm: See, here I'm now sitting by myself, uh, er, talking to myself. That's, that's chaos theory. [2] 173.245.62.62 05:12, 25 July 2014 (UTC)
Thanks for the quotes -- they really helped with writing the explanation! 108.162.238.175 06:07, 25 July 2014 (UTC)

Why write 'third sequel' instead of 'fourth film'? It's quite confusing as I initially misread it to be the third instalment instead of sequel. 141.101.92.203 06:43, 25 July 2014 (UTC)

No particular reason. I've changed it.108.162.238.175 06:51, 25 July 2014 (UTC)

Reference URL for the remix cited in title text... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zXr9GLa0Jo108.162.216.84 06:44, 25 July 2014 (UTC)

Top-left in the in-comic diagram(s) appears to be a 'fern', another fractal construct which may also be an incidental reference to the native flora of the Jurassic (and non-Jurassic) eras of the dinosaurs. 141.101.99.233 08:49, 25 July 2014 (UTC)

"phase space, nonlinear equations, and strange attractors" is not a quote from the movie. The script contains:

MALCOLM
Dr. Grant, Dr. Sattler -- you've heard of Chaos Theory?
ELLIE
(shaking her head)
No.
MALCOLM
No? Non-linear equations? Strange attractions?
(again, she shrugs)
Dr. Sattler, I refuse to believe that you are not familiar with the concept of attraction!

The book mentions all three terms, but not in order. Condor70 (talk)

It is from the book. The chapters are labeled iteration 1, 2, 3 etc... 108.162.215.110 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Can the most recent editor finish their sentence? 172.68.142.23 20:22, 7 February 2019 (UTC)