Lava Lamp

I was in the room where we have our computer and needed some extra light. The only lamp in the room is a lava lamp. It doesn't give off much light, but I plugged it in anyway. Lava lamps are really pretty useless except as entertainment, but they are enjoyable to watch for short periods of time. The one we have has been around for a couple of years and is actually not in very good shape. But it still works.

As I watched it, it reminded me of Catastrophe Theory.



What is Catastrophe Theory? What does a lava lamp have to do with Catastrophe Theory? and What does Catastrophe Theory have to do with having sufficient for our need?

Catastrophe Theory was the brain child of Rene Thom. It is not a theory about why bad things happen. It is a mathematical theory about how to quantitatively describe sudden, discontinuous, irreversible changes. While it is a mathematical theory, the essence of the theory doesn't require math to understand. In fact, what I really like about the lava lamp is how well it demonstrates what a catastrophe is.

The essence of how a lava lamp works is that it contains blobs of wax in water that is heated by a light bulb. When the wax is cold, it is denser than the water and sinks to the bottom. When the wax warms up, it becomes less dense and rises.

Most of the time, meaning for minutes at a time, the wax in the lamp sits like it does in the first picture. It might appear at first glance that there are no changes, although if you watch closely, you can see the wax at the top and the bottom begin to change shape. The wax at the bottom bulges a little; the wax at the top starts to elongate. Then, when some magic point is reached, either the top drops a bubble of wax, or a bubble of wax rises from the bottom. Sometimes they collide. Sometimes the top will send a drop and the bottom will stay put. Sometimes the bottom will send a satellite and the top will absorb it. Sometimes the various bubbles of wax will stay separated at the top or the bottom. They will then suddenly merge. After a bubble leaves the top or the bottom, it can't be stopped and turned around. A bubble never stays in the middle. But I am watching one right now that lingers at the top without making the merge with its permanent sister.

Think of this as a metaphor for other things in life. There is the potential for catastrophes to occur around us in all areas of life. Like the lava lamp, events have the potential for catastrophes to disrupt life. Housing bubbles, stock market bubbles, the melting of the Greenland ice sheet have the potential to be global catastrophes -- sudden, discontinuous, irreversible events. They are all just waiting to change, being gradually pushed to the point of catastrophe. There are also smaller catastrophes like the suicide of a friend's teenage son, the loss of a beehive, and blight on potatoes. Like the first stage of the lava lamp, we generally see a little expansion or contraction and assume that life will continue or that we can deal with it. But then the moment of catastrophe is passed.

What does this have to do with having sufficient for our need? I think the catastrophe model -- sudden, discontinuous, irreversible change -- is what we need to prepare for. Smart people need to learn to become aware of the signs the mark the onset of catastrophes before they occur and figure out how to change course before the point of catastrophe or, at least, prepare to survive it. It's only before the point of catastrophe that something can be done. Sensing it coming and acting is crucial to avoiding or surviving its effects. It's something I've been thinking about for some time. Little by little I hope to explore this.