Aquatic Double Pendulum

 

Chaos theory is the branch of mathematics that studies the states of a dynamic system whose apparently random nature is governed by deterministic laws that are incredibly sensitive to the system’s initial conditions.† This class of systems are heavily affected by what’s commonly known as ‘the butterfly effect’, where incredibly small changes in the initial system state result in large changes in the output. This effect is commonly demonstrated using a double pendulum, where slight differences in its initial position result in unique and varied dynamic behaviors. ‡

Over the last two weeks I instructed my mother, father, and sister “please take an image of Ike”. I also asked them for two random numbers, the first between zero and four thousand, the second between zero and six thousand. Using their image and pixel selection, I cropped into the forty thousand pixels surrounding the one they selected.

With a near-identical input, out came completely separate final images. These differences not only reflect the stylistic preferences of my family members, but also how they interpreted the instructions, my underlying expectations, and their ability to actualize my request.

 

† I’d like to thank a two-week quarantine induced YouTube binge for that piece of information

‡ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Double_pendulum_simultaneous_realisations.ogv