Patterns

The origins of the four ways (of thinking) approach can be traced back to an article written by twenty-four-year-old former child prodigy and distinguished theoretical physicist Stephen Wolfram in 1984. At that time, Wolfram was working on a set of esoteric mathematical models known as cellular automata. By running computer simulations of these automata on his shiny new Sun workstation, Wolfram had been able to systematically classify the types of patterns they produce. He hypothesized that every process, biological or physical, personal or social, natural or artificial, lies in one of only four classes of behaviour he had observed in his computer simulations. Everything we see or do could be classified as either (I) stable, (II) periodic, (III) chaotic or (IV) complex.

Stable systems are those which reach and stay in equilibrium. Think of a domino rally, a line of dominoes stood up on end, one after another. When the first one is given a small push, they topple down and come to rest in a line on the ground. Stability. Other examples include a ball rolling down a hill to come to rest in a valley. A pestle and mortar grinding spices into a stable mix of flavours. A dog sleeping peacefully after a long walk.

Periodic systems are those which exhibit repeating patterns. Walking, cycling or riding a horse are periodic motions of, respectively, our feet, the wheel of the bike and the horse’s legs. Periodicity is the evenly spaced lines of waves arriving on a beach. It is the fast up-and-down motion as a chef’s knife slices the vegetables into equally sized pieces. It is our daily routines: breakfast, work, lunch, work, dinner, TV, sleep, repeat.

Chaos is our inability to predict if it will rain tomorrow or not (in London, at least). It is the roll of a dice. The flip of a coin. The spin of the roulette wheel. It is the wild bubbling of boiling pasta water as the molecules vibrate and spin at random in the pot. It is chance meetings with unpredictible outcomes.

Complexity can be found throughout our society. The transport of goods and services across the world. The rise and fall of civilizations. The structure of government and large multinational organizations. But it is also found nearer to home. In our relationships with friends and family, where we can feel both love and frustration at the same time. Complexity also lies inside us. It is the firing of billions of neurons in your brain. It is your personal story, of how you came to be where you are today.

(From Four Ways Of Thinking, by David Sumpter)