22.06.2014 Views

PREDICTIONS – 10 Years Later - Santa Fe Institute

PREDICTIONS – 10 Years Later - Santa Fe Institute

PREDICTIONS – 10 Years Later - Santa Fe Institute

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

<strong>10</strong>. IF I CAN, I WANT<br />

TEMPORARY “CHAOS” IN U.S. COAL PRODUCTION<br />

Billions of tons<br />

1600<br />

1400<br />

1200<br />

<strong>10</strong>00<br />

800<br />

600<br />

400<br />

200<br />

0<br />

1850 1900 1950 2000 2050<br />

FIGURE <strong>10</strong>.3 Annual production of bituminous coal in the United States. The<br />

two S-curves are fits to the data of the respective historical periods. The interim<br />

period shows large fluctuations of chaotic nature. The small circles show what<br />

happened during the twelve years following the original prediction. ∗<br />

Before and After Chaos<br />

Chaos studies focus on what happens after a niche is filled. The initial<br />

rise is largely ignored by chaos scientists, who are interested only in<br />

phenomena with erratic fluctuations. Many real cases, however, like<br />

the annual car registration in Japan and the production of coal in the<br />

U.S., display multiple periods of growth. New markets open new<br />

niches, and the historical picture looks like a succession of S-curves.<br />

∗ The data come from the Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to<br />

1970, vols. 1 and 2. Bureau of the Census, Washington DC, and the Statistical Abstract<br />

of the United States, U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.<br />

240

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!