Hacker News Reader

Comment by jimnotgym | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure I can agree.

> Are they using the formal definition of chaos, or just a colloquialism?

Is it a colloquialism to use a word in its normal English sense? Chaos as a word precedes Chaos Theory by some thousands of years. If I write a theory and take over an existing word in everyday use, it seems a bit much to accuse every one else of colloquiallism when they use an existing but less strict definition?

View on HN

> If I write a theory and take over an existing word in everyday use, it seems a bit much to accuse every one else of colloquialism when they use an existing but less strict definition?

It does, but engineering is a technical profession and it's practitioners are likely familiar with the mathematical concept.

I've read about applications of chaos theory in system design, and I expected 'Principals of Chaos Engineering' to be about that topic.

The problem I have with the name is that it feels like their audience is people not familiar with the mathematical concept. In other words, not engineers; in other words, non-technical managers. And that marks it as the latest marketing fluff being pitched by management consultants.

People familiar with the mathematical concept will almost always be talking about something like "nonlinear dynamics" instead, anyway.

Funny you say that. I had to restrain myself from using that term. Technically, chaotic systems are only a subset of nonlinear systems. For example, solitons are nonlinear, but neither are they chaotic.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com