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The Idea of the Edge of Chaos

What is Chaos?

A mathematics-based system is chaotic if it displays unpredictable
turbulence that is highly sensitive to differences in initial conditions
even though those initial conditions are totally determined. Known as
the butterfly effect, small differences in initial conditions (such as
those due to rounding errors in numerical computation) yield widely
diverging outcomes rendering long-term prediction of their behavior
impossible in general. The unpredictability is linked to positive
feedback loops over multiple repetitions.
Chaotic behavior exists in many natural systems, such as weather and
climate. It also occurs spontaneously in some systems with artificial
components, such as road traffic.

In business, the mathematical aspects of chaos theory are largely lost
and it has come to signify the more prosaic idea of perceived
turbulence and unpredictability with the added idea of
'opportunity' as the established order is disrupted.

What is "The Edge of Chaos"?

The central conceit of the 'edge of chaos' construct is that 'life' exists at
the border between order and chaos or rather between equilibrium
and turbulence. It was originated by mathematician Doyne Farmer to
describe the transition phenomenon discovered by computer
scientist Christopher Langton examining the behavior of a cellular
automaton.
A system in equilibrium (technically negative feedback homeostasis)
does not have the internal dynamics to enable it to respond to shifts its
environment outside its normal range as it is organized to optimize. If
the context shifts radically, it is at risk of slowly (or quickly) dying or
collapsing into chaos as the system tries to adapt, struggling against
the inertial forces of stability.

A chaotic system ceases to function as a system, loses internal
coherence and falls apart unless it can reorganize around an

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