新疆一读者来信问:现在有不少文章讨论“浑沌论”在地震预报中的应用问题,什么是“浑沌论”?有的文章称之为“紊乱论”或者“复杂学”,并断言“这是对经典牛顿力学的否定”等等。我们有些糊涂,请帮助解答。关于浑沌论,是研究复杂事物或复杂过程的一种新的认识论和方法论。因为这种复杂事物往往具有简单线性方程所无法表征的无序或无规性质,因而常与描述复杂图象的分维或分形概念。或者常与表示无序程度的熵等概念有一定联系。但是,不能也不应籍此简单地把浑 A reporter from Xinjiang asked Q: There are a lot of articles discussing the application of “chaos theory” in earthquake prediction. What is “chaos theory?” Some articles call it “disorder theory” or “complex science” Assert that “this is a negation of classical Newtonian mechanics,” and so on. We are a bit confused, please help answer. About chaos theory is a new kind of epistemology and methodology that studies complex things or complex processes. Because such complex things often have the disorder or random nature that simple linear equations can not characterize, fractal or fractal concepts that describe complex images are often used. Or often associated with the concept of entropy and other degrees of disorder. However, can not and should not take this simple muddy