A New Prospective on Order and Chaos

Upon entering this new section of Core I really did not have a clear definition of what both Order and Chaos were. Even when we did an assignment in class and wrote out what we thought wat the two were I still really had no idea. Throughout the semester we have read various books or stories that have to deal with either both Order and Chaos or one or the other. With this class my views on Order and chaos have changed significantly. I now feel that I have a clearer understanding of what the definition of what these two are.

The word command and Military stick out to me because although they posses everything that would be characteristic to Order it can still cause Chaos. Within Night by Elie Wiesel this concept can be seen. Although the S.S. had command over the Jews in Europe their still was underlying Chaos within the government and the Jews. "My father was running right to left, exuasted, consoling friends, checking with the Jewish Counsil just in case the order had been rescinded."(Wiesel p.15). This shows both order and chaos because there is order within the community but also chaos because they are frantically trying to salvage what they have before they are transported. Structure and Religion also are identified as Order. In many ways these are because within religion you have structure and order. It is seen in the Book Of Job by Stephen Mitchell that there is order within Job's life with religion. " When the week of celebration was over, Job would have them come to be purified; for he thought,"Perhaps my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts."Job did this every year."(Mitchell p.5).

Perfection and Government can be seen as order due to that they keep people in line. This is seen in the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx. "By freedom is meant, under the present bourgeois conditions of production, free trade, free selling and buying."(Marx p.89).

Within Chaos there are many examples that fit this topic. Destruction and War are seen as chaos and it is seen within the novel 1984 by George Orwell. There was war and destruction becuase a main power called Big Brother was controlling everything. "WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY,INORANCE IS STRENGTH."(Orwell p.4). Other examples of Chaos are disruption and natural selection. This can be seen within the movie "Blade Runner". Chaos is a main factor because genetically manipulate beings were made to be similar to humans and they begin to destroy much of Los Angeles in the year 2019. Special police called "Blade Runners" are sent to kill these beings and in turn this can cause chaos. These examples and books that have been a staple throughout this semester od Core has helped to broader and have a better understanding of both Order and Chaos.

Work Citied

Order and Chaos. FRS 1020. Elmira College.University Readers. Winter 2010

Mitchell, Stephen. The Book of Job. New York:Harpercollins Publishers, Inc. 1979.

Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York:Hill and Wang. 2006.

Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Penguin Group.1961.

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Dynamic systems and the Chaos Theory

On April 5th in Gibson Theater I attended Professor Jacobson's lecture "Dynamic systems and the Chaos Theory." I was out off at first about the lecture due to the fact that I know that it would have to do something about math being that Professor Jacobson is a math professor here at Elmira College. I really did not have any expectations going into the lecture being as I have no interest in math and figured I wouldnt know what he is talking about anyway. When it began I was saying in my head "oh God here we go." I was quiet surprised that comming out of the lecture that I learned alot of new information that I thought I wouldn't. I found that the most interesting section of the lecture was on the Chaos Theory. Going into the lecture I knew nothing about it i had only heard it being said a few times within classes in high school. I was very interested in finally learning what this theory entailed. I was very surprised when he talked about the butterfly effect. I never really knew that if something happens in one place that it could have an effect somewhere else in the world.

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