As I walked home from the movie theatre late last nite (successfully managing to lose myself and many of my thoughts for the evening) I crossed the street and came upon an odd sight considering it was past midnite: on the sidewalk in front of me I notice a butterfly. The butterfly didn't seem to be doing much of anything and I found it an interesting place for a butterfly to pause and just sit in stillness. I also felt it wasn't the smartest of places, for tho it was past midnite a few wanders still roamed the streets and it would have been all too easy to step on this little butterfly without even noticing its existence.
So I attempted to get the butterfly onto a leaf I found so I could move it...instead the butterfly flapped its wings and moved ever so slightly, somehow flipping on to its back. I proceeded to flip the butterfly back over and then it fluttered away.
As I continued on my short journey home I couldn't help but think about chaos theory and the idea that a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world can cause a hurricane in another. It's an interesting theory, one that I admit to knowing very little about. But I wondered what kinda of effect my act of attempting to keep a little butterfly out of harms way could have caused [or will cause]. It's funny and quite honestly difficult to think about the many effects our actions can have upon the world. I think as individuals in a vast world among a multitude of others we tend to perceived these effects on a small level. In part this is because it is simply difficult to see the bigger picture as much of it can go on outside our world of perception. Yet I caused a butterfly to flap its wings...I am responsible for the next hurricane to come along [or one much later on]? Honestly, I don't know if we want the answers to the questions or if we even want them posed in the first place.
The entire concept is even more interesting when placed in the context of a deterministic outlook on the universe. Such a view [in an oversimplified account] sees the world as already determined by the movements of the tiny particles that make it up. You simply apply the laws of physics to those particles and the chain of actions and reactions is already determined, as these particles must obey those principles. Another view could be along the lines that God has determined all already. Either way, the basic premise is that all that has and will happened was long ago determined. A troubling view on the world when considering concepts of responsibility and morals and the like.
Interestingly, it seems as tho the theory fits will with chaos theory: when that butterfly flaps its wings, certain particles are moved in certain ways which continue on to cause other actions and reactions among particles and so on...until you get to the hurricane. The positive would be that you remove the concern about your responsibility for what you perceived to be small, minimal actions resulting in profound consequences. Altho I guess such a determined world would not be chaotic...except as to us and how we cannot see far enough in advance to figure out all the events to come.
Yet both theories leave me with a certain emptiness. With determinism the emptiness is obvious: the lack of responsibility for our acts is fundamentally unsettling and what I will simply call lame. As for chaos, while I believe in the idea that small acts can lead to great events and that you never really know what just might happen based on something so small...I guess the personal reaction is that while all of that may be true we are also capable of seeing the consequences and taking action to prevent or remedy them. Sometimes you can see what a small act will bring about or is beginning to bring about and you can act to prevent it or alter the outcome. I don't think this idea is inconsistent with chaos theory...and maybe I just don't know enough about what I'm rambling/thinking about...
Either way, the ideas of a deterministic or simply chaotic world are simply no fun to me. But here's a funny idea...
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