←back to thread

480 points riffraff | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.248s | source
1. defrost ◴[] No.44461360[source]
"Designed" manner according to physical laws of nature such as thermodynamics, sure.

Coarsely predictable in the sense that more blankets on the bed (insulating gases in the atmosphere) trap more radiant heat energy, sure.

Predictable, as in we can predict what will happen in or between (or to) climate cells as that trapped energy increases ... nope, not so much.

That's the mathematical conclusion from the study of nonlinear systems embodied in things such as Ed Lorenz's Butterfly Effect and Stephen Smale's Horseshoe.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_map