We tend to view the world from a deterministic perspective and take comfort in the notion that things happen for a reason. We feel that there must be a meaning or a purpose in life, and that our experiences are somehow coordinated toward that purpose. If we are religious, we may interpret this purpose as God’s will. Even those of us who do not rely on God often have a deterministic perspective on life and on the workings of the natural world. Our evolved capacity to affect change through conscious action has wired our brains to connect actions with deliberate causes. There is a strong tendency to project our personal experience with deliberate cause and effect onto the world around us.
In reality, our deliberate actions are constantly buffeted by unexpected, random events that lead us off in unexpected directions. Randomness, also known as fluctuations, takes everything from atoms to genes to people in new directions. Fluctuations are random deviations from average conditions. The average speed of the cars on a motorway may be 70 miles per hour, but individual speeds can vary from this average. These are fluctuations. Most fluctuations are small; most cars are within 5 miles per hour above or below the average. Large fluctuations, cars traveling 40 miles per hour or 100 miles per hour, are rare, but do exist. Large fluctuations are more likely to bring about change in the status quo than cars traveling near the average speed. In this example, they are more likely to cause a crash.
But the changes brought about by fluctuations are not necessarily bad changes. The molecules in a cup of water are wiggling and zooming around on a microscopic level. We feel the speed of their motions as the temperature of the water; faster motions feel hotter. However, the water molecules actually have a range of speeds, and the temperature reflects the average of this range. Faster or slower than average molecular speeds are fluctuations. If we take the deliberate action of putting the water in the freezer, we are interacting with the spectrum of random fluctuations; the slower than average molecules initiate the transformation from water to ice. If we heat the water, the faster than average molecules initiate the transformation from water to steam. Fluctuations from the average enable change.
What if there are no fluctuations or fluctuations are very small? It is possible to suppress fluctuations in the water by purifying it and by isolating it from vibrations. With all the water molecules behaving nearly identically, the capacity for change is reduced, and it is possible to supercool the water so that it remains liquid below it normal freezing temperature, or to superheat it so that it remains liquid above its normal boiling point. If fluctuations are then introduced, for instance by tapping the side of the cup, supercooled water will freeze instantly and superheated water will vaporize explosively.
Random fluctuations are an agent for change in virtually all natural processes. For instance, atoms and molecules could not combine via chemical reactions to form the materials of our universe and our world, including living things such as ourselves, without random fluctuations. Chemical transformations require atoms and molecules to collide with one another with enough energy to combine and form new substances. Atoms and molecules are constantly vibrating, and zooming around in random directions with a distribution of speeds. Just like the boiling of water, it is the molecules with higher than average speeds that are more likely to bang into one another with sufficient energy to react chemically. Without random fluctuations the universe would have remained forever a featureless broth of non-interacting particles: no stars, no planets, no water molecules, no life. Fluctuations are instrumental in processes of nature, ranging from the chemistry underlying human consciousness to the weather. The world would be very different, and would not be suitable for life, if not for the capacity for change introduced by randomness.
In reality, our deliberate actions are constantly buffeted by unexpected, random events that lead us off in unexpected directions. Randomness, also known as fluctuations, takes everything from atoms to genes to people in new directions. Fluctuations are random deviations from average conditions. The average speed of the cars on a motorway may be 70 miles per hour, but individual speeds can vary from this average. These are fluctuations. Most fluctuations are small; most cars are within 5 miles per hour above or below the average. Large fluctuations, cars traveling 40 miles per hour or 100 miles per hour, are rare, but do exist. Large fluctuations are more likely to bring about change in the status quo than cars traveling near the average speed. In this example, they are more likely to cause a crash.
But the changes brought about by fluctuations are not necessarily bad changes. The molecules in a cup of water are wiggling and zooming around on a microscopic level. We feel the speed of their motions as the temperature of the water; faster motions feel hotter. However, the water molecules actually have a range of speeds, and the temperature reflects the average of this range. Faster or slower than average molecular speeds are fluctuations. If we take the deliberate action of putting the water in the freezer, we are interacting with the spectrum of random fluctuations; the slower than average molecules initiate the transformation from water to ice. If we heat the water, the faster than average molecules initiate the transformation from water to steam. Fluctuations from the average enable change.
What if there are no fluctuations or fluctuations are very small? It is possible to suppress fluctuations in the water by purifying it and by isolating it from vibrations. With all the water molecules behaving nearly identically, the capacity for change is reduced, and it is possible to supercool the water so that it remains liquid below it normal freezing temperature, or to superheat it so that it remains liquid above its normal boiling point. If fluctuations are then introduced, for instance by tapping the side of the cup, supercooled water will freeze instantly and superheated water will vaporize explosively.
Random fluctuations are an agent for change in virtually all natural processes. For instance, atoms and molecules could not combine via chemical reactions to form the materials of our universe and our world, including living things such as ourselves, without random fluctuations. Chemical transformations require atoms and molecules to collide with one another with enough energy to combine and form new substances. Atoms and molecules are constantly vibrating, and zooming around in random directions with a distribution of speeds. Just like the boiling of water, it is the molecules with higher than average speeds that are more likely to bang into one another with sufficient energy to react chemically. Without random fluctuations the universe would have remained forever a featureless broth of non-interacting particles: no stars, no planets, no water molecules, no life. Fluctuations are instrumental in processes of nature, ranging from the chemistry underlying human consciousness to the weather. The world would be very different, and would not be suitable for life, if not for the capacity for change introduced by randomness.
Fluctuations are important to the biological world in an immediate sense because processes integral to life–such as photosynthesis, metabolic reactions, and genetic reproduction–require molecular-level chemical and physical change, which is driven by fluctuations. However, random deviations from the average have a much more striking and visible impact on the biological world by creating the staggering diversity of life through natural selection. Every structural difference amongst all living things, from bacteria to trees to people, arose from a random event, a genetic mutation, a fluctuation. There have been vastly more such mutation-fluctuations then all the structural differences among all the species that currently exist since only a relatively few are amplified through natural selection. Most genetic fluctuations disappear because they decrease survivability or, even if advantageous, because some other random occurrence–such as a drought or the appearance of a hungry predator–wipes them out before they can be passed on.
In the sphere of human activity, the fluctuations that permeate people’s daily lives play a prominent role. Chance meetings, unexpected events, and accidents have a profound influence in individual lives as well as the development and fate of civilizations, economies, and ideas such as religions. The specific details of these events are random, but the fact that they are always occurring is a constant. The interactions of our deliberate intentions with this sea of random fluctuations are the primary drivers that take us in new directions. And, as with the world of atoms, molecules and genes, fluctuations in human events are necessary to keep civilization changing and moving forward.
Individual fluctuations are numerous beyond counting in human activity. As you go through your average day, you are constantly meeting other people and encountering situations that you could not have predicted beforehand. These include little details such as who sat next to you on a bus, whether or not you got caught in a traffic jam, and so on. Each of these individual happenings is unique and unanticipated, and thus, from your point of view, represents a fluctuation. To get some idea of the staggering number of possible random outcomes in human activity, consider that billions of people worldwide are simultaneously bathed in a daily soup of thousands of fluctuations.
Most fluctuations are small and are forgotten almost immediately; they are unimportant and produce no lasting effect: That car I just passed on the highway was red as opposed to some other color. But it makes no difference. I have already forgotten. To use the mathematical language which describes fluctuations in the physical sciences, they are small in amplitude, and are damped (i.e. their importance or strength diminishes rapidly). Some fluctuations are small, but chance amplifies their importance; the person who randomly sits next to you on a bus is an old classmate you have not seen in twenty years. Or, you strike up a conversation with the stranger sitting across the aisle from you on an airplane. You hit it off and eventually get married. In these cases a resonance, a match or fit, magnifies an initially small happening into something of greater amplitude or importance.
Most fluctuations are small in amplitude and damped. A few small fluctuations resonate with us and our situation, but we tend to notice these resonances and ascribe to them importance far beyond the random events that they truly are. We are bombarded by thousands of random details of daily life. Yet, when one of these chance occurrences leads to something more, we tend to view this as fate, providence, or luck. These three terms all suggest a belief in a higher power that is directing these events. The workings of the human mind make such conclusions irresistible. Ten thousand small amplitude fluctuations sail by our senses in a blur like the faces of strangers we pass on a busy city street. We hardly notice them. But when something resonates, we stop and focus on it. We marvel at it. Perhaps, we even attribute it to the will of God. However, such coincidences do not require divine intervention. If one experiences enough random events, statistics dictate that eventually one will hit upon a resonance.
Of course, there are also randomly occurring fluctuations of a much stronger, higher amplitude variety. They do not need a resonance to profoundly influence events. They are powerful enough to dominate by themselves. Examples of these include disasters, both natural and man-made: earthquakes, floods, city-engulfing fires, terrorist attacks, dinosaur-obliterating asteroid impacts, and more. They also include unexpected important discoveries such as gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1848 and a New World rather than a new route to India in 1492. Clearly, and perhaps fortunately, such strong fluctuations are rare. In fact, the stronger they are, the rarer they are. The science of statistical mechanics, a fundamental underpinning of chemistry, physics, and biochemistry, allows the probability of a particular event or fluctuation to be determined based on its strength, and indeed strong fluctuations are exceedingly rare while small ones are numerous beyond counting. This analysis holds rigorously in the world of atoms and molecules, but applying it in the arena of human interactions, which are much more difficult to quantify, may be hopeless. However, observation indicates that it is true that small event fluctuations are numerous and earth shattering random events are much rarer.
The world around us is constantly changing and developing as a result of a synergy between intentional action and randomness. The pace of change is usually measured enough for us to keep up because small fluctuations are much more numerous than very powerful ones. When we take deliberate action, the outcome is influenced by the fluctuations that surround us. Unexpected random chance profoundly affects our lives and the course of history.
In the sphere of human activity, the fluctuations that permeate people’s daily lives play a prominent role. Chance meetings, unexpected events, and accidents have a profound influence in individual lives as well as the development and fate of civilizations, economies, and ideas such as religions. The specific details of these events are random, but the fact that they are always occurring is a constant. The interactions of our deliberate intentions with this sea of random fluctuations are the primary drivers that take us in new directions. And, as with the world of atoms, molecules and genes, fluctuations in human events are necessary to keep civilization changing and moving forward.
Individual fluctuations are numerous beyond counting in human activity. As you go through your average day, you are constantly meeting other people and encountering situations that you could not have predicted beforehand. These include little details such as who sat next to you on a bus, whether or not you got caught in a traffic jam, and so on. Each of these individual happenings is unique and unanticipated, and thus, from your point of view, represents a fluctuation. To get some idea of the staggering number of possible random outcomes in human activity, consider that billions of people worldwide are simultaneously bathed in a daily soup of thousands of fluctuations.
Most fluctuations are small and are forgotten almost immediately; they are unimportant and produce no lasting effect: That car I just passed on the highway was red as opposed to some other color. But it makes no difference. I have already forgotten. To use the mathematical language which describes fluctuations in the physical sciences, they are small in amplitude, and are damped (i.e. their importance or strength diminishes rapidly). Some fluctuations are small, but chance amplifies their importance; the person who randomly sits next to you on a bus is an old classmate you have not seen in twenty years. Or, you strike up a conversation with the stranger sitting across the aisle from you on an airplane. You hit it off and eventually get married. In these cases a resonance, a match or fit, magnifies an initially small happening into something of greater amplitude or importance.
Most fluctuations are small in amplitude and damped. A few small fluctuations resonate with us and our situation, but we tend to notice these resonances and ascribe to them importance far beyond the random events that they truly are. We are bombarded by thousands of random details of daily life. Yet, when one of these chance occurrences leads to something more, we tend to view this as fate, providence, or luck. These three terms all suggest a belief in a higher power that is directing these events. The workings of the human mind make such conclusions irresistible. Ten thousand small amplitude fluctuations sail by our senses in a blur like the faces of strangers we pass on a busy city street. We hardly notice them. But when something resonates, we stop and focus on it. We marvel at it. Perhaps, we even attribute it to the will of God. However, such coincidences do not require divine intervention. If one experiences enough random events, statistics dictate that eventually one will hit upon a resonance.
Of course, there are also randomly occurring fluctuations of a much stronger, higher amplitude variety. They do not need a resonance to profoundly influence events. They are powerful enough to dominate by themselves. Examples of these include disasters, both natural and man-made: earthquakes, floods, city-engulfing fires, terrorist attacks, dinosaur-obliterating asteroid impacts, and more. They also include unexpected important discoveries such as gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1848 and a New World rather than a new route to India in 1492. Clearly, and perhaps fortunately, such strong fluctuations are rare. In fact, the stronger they are, the rarer they are. The science of statistical mechanics, a fundamental underpinning of chemistry, physics, and biochemistry, allows the probability of a particular event or fluctuation to be determined based on its strength, and indeed strong fluctuations are exceedingly rare while small ones are numerous beyond counting. This analysis holds rigorously in the world of atoms and molecules, but applying it in the arena of human interactions, which are much more difficult to quantify, may be hopeless. However, observation indicates that it is true that small event fluctuations are numerous and earth shattering random events are much rarer.
The world around us is constantly changing and developing as a result of a synergy between intentional action and randomness. The pace of change is usually measured enough for us to keep up because small fluctuations are much more numerous than very powerful ones. When we take deliberate action, the outcome is influenced by the fluctuations that surround us. Unexpected random chance profoundly affects our lives and the course of history.