Butterflies? Beautiful Or Catastrophic?

Butterflies. An odd topic to talk about in relation to time right? Almost how odd you are sitting where you are now. Past! The chair in which you sit in, how did it get there? The fact you were born? As a result of what? Nuanced questions but bear with me. 

On a fateful day in the 1960s the meteorologist coined the term Butterfly Effect through the tiny, butterfly—scale changes to the starting point of his computer weather models resulted in anything from sunny skies to violent storms—with no way to predict in advance what the outcome might be. It has been over 60 years since that day. And with time everything changes. Along with the definition of what it is. 

The butterfly effect rests on the notion that the world is deeply interconnected, such that one small occurrence can influence a much larger complex system.

For most of us it makes sense. A happenstance can result in you finding the love of your life or a coffee break can lead to an opportunity to reach something you never could have dreamed of prior. All because of some random event occurring to someone else such as traffic because another person felt as though they were late to work and crashed into a pole. Specific events but they each reverberate throughout time. 

Past influences the present. Probably why the term echoes of history is always present throughout our lives. The most unlikely people often reach positions through the most unlikely means that are completely out of their control. 

A relatively significant example could be Po from Kung Fu Panda. Po before becoming the dragon warrior was merely the son of a restaurant owner and likely followed him into the family business. But through a completely unlikely series of events he falls into the arena and is selected as the Dragon Warrior, the most prestigious warrior in the entire land. Oogway selected him because he knew that Po would become the warrior that is renowned at the end of the movie. And yet he later says he didn’t know, he couldn’t have. 

“There is simply too much in this world to tell what could happen … live with what may happen”

Funnily enough a butterfly lands on his finger. Coincidence? 

This begs the question: do we have a choice? Oedipus found the answer. Factors that have occurred decades in the past influence you today. Every single thing that has occurred has been through a random set of events that could or could not have happened. Almost like a multiverse. Our world is made by the past but our past cannot predict the future. An interesting way to view our world. Though kinda depressing