Time&Eternity

174 chapter 3
nature. In the meantime, it has been proved that simple theories of hidden
parameters, as Einstein imagined them, do not describe reality.
Within the framework of thermodynamics, the irreversibility of the increase
in entropy was interpreted as proof for the existence of a time arrow;
yet, the assumption of a universally valid time arrow presupposes that the
universe as a whole can be understood as an isolated system. Here, a dilemma
is revealed. In thermodynamics, the thought of a strict time arrow is
linked to the idea of the universe as an isolated system, while the emergence
of complex structures presupposes open systems far from equilibrium. The
strict irreversibility of time that is intended in thermodynamics therefore
appears to be modified by chaos research. Instead of speaking of a universal
time arrow, one now talks more often of the “multiplicity of time.” 315 Rigid
static behavior is not the signature of the world, but rather dynamic chaos
that can create highly flexible and richly nuanced orders.
Theories of both entropy and self-organization appear to lend themselves
to an ideologizing interpretation of entropic disintegration, on the
one hand, and creative chaos, on the other. But just as one must be warned
against a careless application of quantum theory in areas foreign to physics,
one should also be careful when using thermodynamics and chaos theory.
Accordingly, the applicability of chaos theory in no way signifies the end of
determinism, but rather supports a more complex understanding of it than
is found in classical physics. Chaotic processes are deterministic, though
they are not predictable. Their openness therefore should not be mistaken
for indeterminacy, since the development always follows the attractor acting
immanently in the system. Openness to the future based on unpredictability
does not therefore essentially cancel the determination by the initial conditions,
even if the initial conditions of a chaotically developing system cannot
be reconstructed. Nevertheless, the key concepts of nonlinearity, instability,
and fluctuations 316 have had a lasting influence on the understanding of nature
and time. Twentieth-century natural science has attacked the strict
causality principle on the basis of both its premises (in the form of the quantum
theory) and its conclusions (in the form of chaos theory). 317
To speak again metaphorically: Newtonian time is just as barren and
lifeless as an empty theater stage. Measured by the multi-temporality that
was discussed in chapter 2, it has about as much life in it as a cloister’s ossuary.
Comparatively, Einstein appears to have exchanged the hard stage
floorboards for a trampoline that is constantly in motion. Finally, Heisenberg
also doused this trampoline with liquid nitrogen and completed the
scene by installing a strobe light: Lightning-like illumination shows instantaneous
images of a nebulous drama. The static idea of a cosmology with an
infinitely uniform flow of time by no means corresponds to this scenario,