1. Examples

2. See also

3. References

4. External links

The butterfly effect is the phenomenon in chaos theory whereby a minor change in circumstances can cause a large change in outcome. The butterfly metaphor was created by Edward Norton Lorenz to emphasize the inherent unpredictable results of small changes in the initial conditions of certain physical systems. The concept was taken up by popular culture, and interpreted to mean that each event could be explained by some small cause, or that small events have a rippling effect that causes much larger events to take place.^[1]

Examples

The short story "A Sound of Thunder" is often miscredited as the origin of the term "butterfly effect". Ray Bradbury's 1952 concept of how the death of a butterfly in the past could have drastic changes in the future is a representation of the butterfly effect, and used as an example of how to consider chaos theory and the physics of time travel.^[2] The story was made into a film of the same name, an episode of the television series Ray Bradbury Theater, and its influence can be seen in the film The Terminator, the short story "Kamikaze Butterflies", and an episode of the television series The Simpsons.^[3]{{Better source|reason=the relevant portion is a low-quality 'listicle'|date=June 2016}} The Butterfly Effect was also mentioned in The Amazing World Of Gumball in which a butterfly is let out of a jar which causes a series of events leading to a tornado.{{Citation needed|date=November 2017}}

The films The Butterfly Effect (and its sequels The Butterfly Effect 2 and Revelations) and Havana mischaracterize the butterfly effect in the typical fashion of its pop-culture understanding, asserting that the butterfly effect can be calculated with certainty, which is the opposite of its meaning in chaos theory about the unpredictability of certain physical systems.^[1] Jeff Goldblum's character Dr. Ian Malcolm from the 1993 movie Jurassic Park attempts to explain chaos theory to Laura Dern's character, Dr. Ellie Sattler, specifically using the butterfly effect as an example.^[4] Terry Pratchett's novel Interesting Times tells of the magical "Quantum Weather Butterfly", who has the ability to manipulate weather patterns.^[5] The 2009 film Mr. Nobody also delves into the concept of smaller choices, that inevitably result in larger changes that alter a person's life.{{Citation needed|date=November 2017}}

In Nick Hancock and Chris England's 1997 book What Didn't Happen Next: An Alternative History of Football it is suggested that, had Gordon Banks been fit to play in the 1970 FIFA World Cup quarter-final, there would have been no Thatcherism and the post-war consensus would have continued indefinitely.^[6]{{Page needed|date=August 2016}}{{bsex|date=August 2016}}

The 2015 video game Until Dawn features the butterfly effect as a central plot point, using the term to describe how the player's choices can drastically affect the outcome of the game's events.

Hip-hop artist Travis Scott mentions this phenomenon in his 2017 single Butterfly Effect.{{Citation needed|date=November 2017}}

See also

• Alternate history
• Point of divergence

References

External links

• The meaning of the butterfly: Why pop culture loves the 'butterfly effect,' and gets it totally wrong, Peter Dizikes, The Boston Globe, June 8, 2008

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