As I mentioned last week, it’s only natural to confuse chaos theory in physics with the forces of chaos in the game Warhammer 40,000. Since it will be Halloween in a few days, it’s a perfect time to explain the subtle differences between the two.
| Warhammer 40k | physics |
|---|---|
| In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war! | In the grim darkness of Chapter 11 of Goldstein, Poole, and Safko, there is only Chaos! |
| Birthed from the psychic power of mortal minds | Birthed from the numerical computations of mortal physicists |
| Ruled by four chaos gods: Khorne, Tzeench, Nurgle, and Slaanesh | Ruled by three principles: sensitivity to initial conditions, topological transitivity, and dense periodic orbits |
| In the 31st millennium, nine legions of space marines leave humanity due to the forces of chaos | In the 3.5 millionth millennium, Mercury leaves the solar system due to the force of gravity |
| While events may appear unpredictable, everything is determined by Tzeench’s plans | While events may appear unpredictable, everything is determined by the initial conditions |
| Humans drawn to strangely attractive cults | Systems in phase space drawn to strange attractors |
| Over time, cultists mutate, governed by the warp | Over time, trajectories diverge, governed by the Lyapunov exponent |
| To resist chaos, the Imperium of Man demands strict spiritual control | To resist chaos, the KAM Theorem demands strict mathematical conditions |
| Inspires nerds to paint detailed miniatures | Inspires nerds to stick pendulums together |
| Fantasy version with confusing relation to the original | Quantum version with confusing relation to the original |
| Lots of cool gothic art | Pretty fractals |
4 gravitons 
For interested science fiction fans:
Two well known science fiction authors that incorporated the term “chaos” quite early (in the 1960/70s ) in their novels and stories were Norman Spinrad and Michael Moorcock.
Interestingly, both of them were also collaborated with musicians:
Spinrad with the French band Heldon ( album: “Only chaos is real”!) and
Moorcock (who also released an album based on a sci fi concept with many guests) collaborated with the famous rock bands Hawkwind and Blue Oyster Cult. Again, “chaos” appears many times in song titles etc.
Ok, that was slightly off topic, but life is fun, no need to comment only about physics all the time..
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