One always hears the debate about government, economics and the ability we have to control our economies. The failure of totalitarians in the past to do so is no proof it can not be done, we hear. But the idea of systems too complex to evaluate and predict is everywhere.
In 1887, Henri Poincaré proved that the motion of the three objects, with the exception of a few special cases, is non-repeating. Three objects in motion, each close enough to influence the others, is a chaotic system; the historical pattern of object positions has no predictive power in figuring out where these objects will be in the future. There is no algorithm that a human can possibly discover to solve this problem. It does not exist.
This is the Three Body Problem, a concept that forms the background of the fascinating sci-fi book of the same name by Cixin Liu that won the Hugo Award.
In 1887, Henri Poincaré proved that the motion of the three objects, with the exception of a few special cases, is non-repeating. Three objects in motion, each close enough to influence the others, is a chaotic system; the historical pattern of object positions has no predictive power in figuring out where these objects will be in the future. There is no algorithm that a human can possibly discover to solve this problem. It does not exist.
This is the Three Body Problem, a concept that forms the background of the fascinating sci-fi book of the same name by Cixin Liu that won the Hugo Award.
No comments:
Post a Comment