What is the Butterfly Effect?

The butterfly effect is a theory closely linked to chaos theory, and was first proposed by Edward Norton Lorenz in 1961. It basically examines and demonstrates the effects that seemingly small incidents can have on larger events at a later time. The famous example being that something as small as the fluttering of as butterflies wings could in theory be indirectly responsible for a tornado on the other side of the world.

The easiest way to experimentally observe the butterfly effect is to have several sets of identical objects subjected to the same conditions and noticing the different outcomes. What might look like a very slight difference at first will then become more and more pronounced as the experiment goes on. And in the end the results will be vastly different from each other.

Although the theory of the butterfly effect has its basis in mathematics, there are many applications in everyday life that can be observed. If most of us think about it there are many pivotal decisions in our lives that changed the entire future of what we became. As well as these seemingly large decisions there are millions of smaller decisions and circumstances we have no control over as well which shape the paths that our lives take.

For example a man goes to work in his car as usual, but his car breaks down half way there. As a result he misses giving a big presentation and subsequently doesn't get a promotion he was looking for. The end result might be that he languishes near the bottom rung of the company for another 5 years, and has substantial debt because of not earning much. This might put a strain on his relationship with his wife, and they then get divorced. This then affects his work and he gets fired a few weeks later. He then gets a different job entirely and finds a new love who he marries.