Butterfly effect
The Butterfly effect is the essence of Chaos Theory. It holds that a system can be sensitive to initial conditions. Systems, such as the weather, can become unstable over time, giving rise to the notion that a butterfly flapping its wings in New York can cause a hurricane in the Pacific Ocean.[1]
In Popular Culture
The butterfly effect is usually found in science fiction stories and movies. It describes the possibility of a person traveling back in time, and inadvertently changing some minuscule thing in the past — such as killing a butterfly — that has momentous consequences as time goes by, so that the he returns to a radically altered future.
Most agree that this scenario is not only patently absurd, but harmful to the development and upbringing of children and other like-minded individuals. The Bible describes only Jesus[2] and God[3] as capable of time travel. Despite this assertion, the Butterfly Effect makes appearances in many Hollywood films (most of which have been condemned by the Vatican). Movies of this type include:
The Butterfly effect was also a central theme of Isaac Asimov's short story "A Sound of Thunder", in which a man travels back in time to hunt dinosaurs, and inadvertently shoots a butterfly by mistake. This scenario, while plausible enough as a science fiction story, could certainly never happen in real life.