One and a Half
I have a cousin, who is a good mathematician, who says that if you lay a
sphere vertically on top of a hemisphere lying on
its flat side the sphere will roll off the side. This is easy to understand.
My cousin says that that is chaotic, it is due to chaos.
The loss of balance that occurs to the sphere in one direction rather
than another one may be caused by a hit, a breeze of air,
a person’s breath, the least oscillation carried by air, or even by a
particular vibration of an electromagnetic wave. Since, he
says, this is not easily understandable, predictable, or manageable,
then it is chaotic. I don’t agree with that.
I believe that if it were possible to isolate the system of the hemisphere
and the sphere so as to make it unaffected by not only strikes, but also
any breath of air, any external stimulus which can be transmitted by air or the
bodies that it might come into contact with, so that even vibrations due to the
breathing or the heartbeat of a person, or those of a particular
electromagnetic wave of a light source might not influence its equilibrium, the sphere laying
vertically on top of the hemisphere, and subjected only to the gravity force,
would be exac- tly balanced, because its every part weighing out on any side would
be com- pensated by its symmetrical counterpart on the other side. This
situation is cer- tainly more difficult to imagine and, most of all, to carry out into
facts. If the sphere loses its balance and rolls off the top of the
hemisphere there will be one, two or infinite reasons and causes and also if it falls in
one direction in- stead of another one. But I really do not think that this is chaotic.
Every effect is induced by an event according to an order, a harmony, a
system that, however imperceptible, incomprehen-
sible and unpredictable, still exists. Trying to understand more of
that, to get closer to what is perceived as a truth, even if
through little steps at a time, with humbleness and dedication, is a
worthy and valuable act.