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First coined by mathematician, Edward Norton Lorenz, the butterfly effect is used to describe how an insignificant event like the draft of a butterfly’s wings may spur a hurricane on the other side of the world. But this idiom not only applies to weather, but any occurrence. David and Goliath is the most well known tale of how the small man can impact upon the big in unexpected ways.
Chaos Theory and Cause and Effect
Definition of Innovation Butterfly
Man’s attempt to harness the chaotic can be seen in the ‘innovation butterfly.’ This is a method of steering a project by trying to predict how small perturbations (the innovation butterfly itself) will affect the big picture. This term applies mostly to things like product demands, sales or technological development. Some companies try to exploit this small variable, but always to be aware of it. However, predicting how any such ‘initial condition’ will affect the bigger plan can often seem impossible.
Modern Story of David and Goliath
Without planning to, one of my novels featured an initial condition, in the form of diffident teacher, Sarah, who takes on a horrendous pupil, Josh who belongs to a fearsome criminal gang headed by a psychopath, Kurt. Sarah initially believed she was teaching a schoolchild a little English. But Josh, a mature student, is in himself intimidating and irascible. Sarah has little to do with Josh's other life or Kurt’s schemes, but simply wants to get on with her teaching job. Sarah initially quits after Josh sexually assaults her. She seems to be a hopeless subject, as can be seen from her thoughts in the following excerpt after her first session with Josh:
“The prospect of ever facing Josh again, for whatever reason, filled Sarah with an aversion that held unfathomable depths. It was Josh’s lucky day. Today’s subject was modest yet well-turned out. But Sarah saw herself as meek; incurably humble, timid and meek.”
Cause and Effect Topics
Sarah would appear to be the perfect ‘initial condition’ in the story. Meek and resigned, she would surely shrivel if Kurt so much as lay eyes on her. But as we have seen, the small can impact unexpectedly upon the big. The question is, how? The ‘how’ is often more fascinating than the fact that something small has had any effect at all. The how is the ‘chain reaction’ of the butterfly effect.
In my novel, Sarah’s actions set off a chain reaction upon Kurt and his system. I made sure the 'how' remained unforseen until the latter part of the novel.
Excerpt from A Hard Lesson by Charles J Harwood
Copyright is asserted © 2012
Other themes relating to this novel
Large family dynamics and gang culture
Stories of peer pressure in a gang
Forbidden love of Venus and Mars
Chemistry between two characters in novels
How I created a psychopath for fiction
Other articles
Passionless marriage in fiction
References:
Erin Brochovich Official Website (2013)
Oxford English Dictionary (2013)
Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and Life Science - online resource (2013)
Image details: Sculpture of the Paradise gate for the Baptistry by Lorenzo Ghiberti, Stories of David and Goliath, original restored from Opera del Duomo Museum, from Florence, Italy (sourced from Wikimedia Commons 2013)
Every now and again, we hear how a small and seemingly insignificant event bearing no relation to something big, can have devastating effects upon that very thing. The trajectory of asteroids, an avalanche or a ball rolling down a hill can be determined by a grain of dust. Such objects’ final destination can be hard to predict, as can the fate of a system that seems consistent. The writers Ray Bradbury and H G Wells were obsessed with the repercussions of dabbling with past events, no matter how small, as can be seen in the Time Machine and more recently, the Back to the Future films.
Stories of the Underdog against the Corporation
But the part I am most interested in is the underdog against the corporation in David and Goliath fashion. Erin Brockovich brought down the Pacific Gas and Electric Company despite being a lowly clerk with no law qualifications and a divorcee of 3. And how can it be that a 13 year-old murdered girl could bring down a newspaper mogul and the News of the World? A tragic example but one with a poetic justice. The small thing that impacts upon the big is known as the ‘initial condition’. This initial condition forms a vital part of one of my stories, relating on a system that would appear infallible and untouchable.
The Meaning of Chaos Theory
The Oxford English Dictionary contextualizes the butterfly effect to the chaos theory. This is the phenomenon by which a tiny change in a complex system can bring about huge effects within this complex system. The means by which this happens is known as a ‘chain reaction.’ This is a series of events where one event influences or induces the next in an irresistible way. This 'how' of the butterfly effect can be more incredible than the butterfly effect itself.
Chaos theory itself is a branch of mathematics concerned with a complex structure. The smaller the variable, the more striking the butterfly effect will seem.
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