Non-Linear Systems Systems which are not characterizable by linear or first-order equations, but are governed by any variety of complex, reciprocal relationships, or feedback loops. Contributed by: CTNS Search

Non-Linear , Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics A branch of physics developed in the latter half of the twentieth century that deals with systems of particles that are far from the near-equilibrium conditions studied in classical

simple, dynamic, law-obeying systems; to statistical properties of assemblies; to Newtonian systems which are deterministic yet unpredictable; and to “chaotic” and “dissipative” systems. In doing so he also analyzes the

broadened to include open systems (i.e., systems which exchanged matter and/or energy with their environment). These first included non-linear systems in which effects on the system were highly amplified, and then non-linear systems far from

out of his analysis of non-linear systems - the mathematics of chaos, as modelled on the modern computer and applied to biological systems. In a sense his conclusions complement Stephen Jay Gould ’s (see Punctuated Equilibrium and

the twentieth century, non-linear , non-equilibrium systems were studied. These open systems exchange matter and/or energy with their larger environment, and in doing so, they can move from a less ordered to a more ordered state. The process

effects can be amplified by non-linear biological systems. He also argues for top-down causality in which higher-level events impose boundary conditions on lower levels without violating lower- level laws and he places top-down causality within

, with its focus on systems in equilibrium, centers on the second law of increasing entropy in closed systems. Through the statistical thermodynamics of Boltzmann this came to be seen as increasing disorder or randomness in closed

for Polkinghorne is that non-linear systems of the sort that exhibit chaos are exquisitely sensitive to the conditions in which they develop, and hence their development very rapidly becomes unpredictable. That much is generally accepted. But

the ontological openness of non-linear systems, and has been rightly criticised for the logic by which he arrives at this. However, a system-open-to-God-as-overall-context is very similar to