ABSTRACT
I refrained from summarizing the last chapter in hopes of gaining the momentum of a running start by summarizing everything else that transpired in this book. Evidence to support first premises of NDS, that seemingly random events are predictable with our new analytic concepts and mathematical models thereof, should be obvious by now. At the same time, some qualifications are in order. “Prediction” works well when modeling events over time when we have a whole event to look at. Prediction of future states is possible in the near term, but could decay rapidly as we try to extend further into the future. Part of the reason is that chaos itself is a state of relative unpredictability, but the presence of those times of unpredictability is predictable. Part of the limitation of future vision is that is assumes that future states will be based on the same dynamics that are operating in the present. Nowhere has such a guarantee ever been offered by anyone to anyone without crossing their fingers behind their backs. The limits of future vision were inherent in the concept of chaos from the outset and the nature of forecasting before chaos was ever conceptualized; it was not a discovery we actively pursued here. Rather, I am raising the issue to suggest that any elation about the new and useful insights into the dynamics of human social systems should be kept on a reasonable leash.
