Butterfly Effect: Cause And Effect

Through out our lives, all of our decisions impact what happens in our lives. Even the tiniest decision can lead to a chain reaction of events that could change our lives forever. Chain reactions of events that lead to unpredictable outcomes have become known as the butterfly effect.

Origin Of The Butterfly Effect

The idea of the butterfly effect originated from attempts at long range weather forecasting in the 1950s and 60s. Ed Lorenz was attempting to prove that long range weather predictions were futile because the atmosphere is so complex that the exact conditions that you are currently experiencing would never be duplicated. He discovered changes in initial conditions in complex systems as slight as rounding variable values causes wildly different outcomes. This led to the metaphorical illustration of a butterfly’s wings flapping can impact environmental variables to produce wildly different results.

The Butterfly Effect In Popular Culture

Over the years, pop culture has latched on to the idea of the butterfly effect. The movie Jurassic Park contains one of the best known examples. In one of my favorite quotes from the movie, it was used to describe Chaos Theory.

It simply deals with unpredictability in complex systems. The shorthand is ‘the butterfly effect.’ A butterfly can flap its wings in Peking, and in Central Park, you get rain instead of sunshine.”

Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park

Another example is a rather forgettable movie called The Butterfly Effect starring Ashton Kutcher. It explored the concept in context of seeing the butterfly effect in action via time travel. The main character sees the impact of changing events in his past and their repercussions on his present and future.

What Is The Real Life Impact?

As I previously stated in One Choice: Making All The Difference, one decision can completely change the course of our lives. Where we currently are isn’t based on one decision, but on a web of choices made through our whole lives. The impact of each decision we make is immeasurable. Even the smallest decision we make can change the path of the rest of our lives. Or, if you believe in parallel universes, it can create a branch universe that ends up varying wildly from the reality that you are in. But that’s a whole other discussion entirely.

In our present reality, what we know is that life is chaotic and supremely complex. There is no way to predict the outcome of our lives, or really much of anything beyond the present moment. There are so many variables and so many choices that are available that no one knows what tomorrow will bring. All that you can do is try to make good choices. Enjoy life like there is no tomorrow and plan like there’s a thousand years to go.

Housekeeping: I’ve completed revisions on Inner Beauty: Image of the Soul.

Teaser: Next time, we’ll explore how themes can repeat over time.