Can you explain to me what the Butterfly Effect is?

Question

Can you explain to me what the Butterfly Effect is?

Answer 1

a mathematic theory about like a sorta domino effect thing... i think

like if you were to go back in time and change something, that change would subsequently alter everything as you knew it when you go back which is impossible as that theory of time travel is impossible..

Answer 2

It's how a small action somewhere may lead to a powerful reaction somewhere else. ie butterflies flapping their wings may lead to a hurricane.

Answer 3

The butterfly effect is a term used in Chaos Theory to describe how tiny variations can affect giant systems, and complex systems, like weather patterns. The term butterfly effect was applied in Chaos Theory to suggest that the wing movements of a butterfly might have significant repercussions on wind strength and movements throughout the weather systems of the world, and theoretically, could cause tornadoes halfway around the world.

What the butterfly effect seems to posit, is that the prediction of the behavior of any large system is virtually impossible unless one could account for all tiny factors, which might have a minute effect on the system. Thus large systems like weather remain impossible to predict because there are too many unknown variables to count.

The term "butterfly effect" is attributed to Edward Norton Lorenz, a mathematician and meteorologist, who was one of the first proponents of Chaos Theory. Though he had been working on the theory for some ten years, with the principal question as to whether a seagulls’ wing movements changes the weather, he changed to the more poetic butterfly in 1973.

A speech he delivered was titled, “Does the Flap of a Butterfly’s Wings in Brazil Set off a Tornado in Texas.” Actually, fellow scientist, Philip Merilees created the title. Lorenz had failed to provide a title for his speech.

The concept of small variations producing the butterfly effect actually predates science and finds its home in science fiction. Writers like Ray Bradbury were particularly interested in the types of problems that might occur if one traveled back in time, trailing anachronisms. Could small actions taken in the past dramatically affect the future?

Fictional treatments of the butterfly effect as applies to time travel are numerous. Many cite the 2005 Butterfly Effect film as a good example of the possible negative changes that small behaviors in the past could have on the future, if one could time travel. Actually, a better and more critically accepted treatment of this concept is the 2000 film Frequency. In the film a father and son communicate over time through radio waves and attempt to change the past for the good.

In human behavior, one can certainly see how small changes could render behavior, or another complex system, extremely unpredictable. Small actions or experiences stored in the unconscious mind, could certainly affect a person’s behavior in unexpected ways.

One looks at teen suicide for example, where no instance of previous depression has occurred. Loved ones are often left wondering what the many small factors were that precipitated a suicide. Further, people often agonize about the small details they did not see as possible factors for an unexpected suicide.

However, there are plenty of ways that such a behavior would be unanswerable according to the butterfly effect. Minute actions and experiences dating from childhood stored in the unconscious mind are not accessible when a person has died, and they may be hard to access without hypnosis or therapy when a person is living.

Whether used in science, fiction, or social sciences, the butterfly effect remains theory. However, it does seem a reasonable explanation for the unpredictability of events. As it relates to human behavior, it does suggest that even the smallest actions may have huge consequences for good or ill.

Answer 4

The butterfly effect is basically this:

A very small variation in starting conditions can produce a huge difference in conditions later on. The usual example is the a butterfly flapping its wings, which causes a small movement of air, which in turn causes a hurricane on the other side of the world. Of course, no-one can really blame butterflies for hurricanes, but the principal is sound.

Imagine a population of Lions and Zebras. Lions eat Zebras.

When there are lots of lions, lots of zebras get eaten, so the population of zebras goes down. This leaves less food for the  next generation of lions, so there are fewer of them, so the zebra population recovers, so more food becomes available, allowing the lions population to grow.... and so on. This very simple scenario is good for understanding chaos, as it is very unstable.

It can be written as an equation:

Ln = P*L*(1-L)

L is the proportion of the population that are lions (from 0 to 1), to 1-L is the propotion that are Zebras. Ln is the next generation of lions. P is a constant representing the sexual fecundity of the lions, so the higher the value, the faster they reproduce.

If you choose a starting value of L (say, 0.2) and a value for P (about 4) and iterate this in a spreadsheet, you'll see chaos.

Then, change the starting value of L from 0.2 to 0.199999 and see how this very small change leads to huge changes later on...

Answer 5

It is a description of "Chaos Theory". A theory in mathematics that sates that some systems are so complicated that they are chaotic and defy mathematical prediction. The butterfly flaps its wings and through some unforeseeable chain of chaotic events there is a hurricane on the other side of the world.

xxFJ

Answer 6

i should think it means someone like a butterfly in the pupa stage springing into life. well thats wot i finks. codger

Answer 7

i think it's the idea that if a butterfly flaps its wings in one part of the world, eventually the energy from that will build into a hurricaine in another part of the world. i hear the guy that invented that theory died like a month ago too.