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Butterfly effect!

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  • 20-08-2008 3:45pm
    #1
    buddyonair
    Closed Accounts Posts: 70 ✭✭


    I am new to this board and I am shocked and impressed at the same time of what I have read so far. I started looking for theories to keep the discussion going and came across this one. The butterfly effect is not really a CT but I hope you guys do not mind to talk about it here.

    what do you think about this?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect

    I am not very familiar with this theory (please have mercy with me) but I think it is very interesting to talk about. Can small things actually have an effect on big things?


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    #2
    bonkey
    Registered Users Posts: 15,443 ✭✭✭✭bonkey


    buddyonair wrote: »
    The butterfly effect is not really a CT

    Indeed, its not a theory at all.

    Its a mathematical principle.
    Can small things actually have an effect on big things?
    Yes. Some good examples of exactly that are supplied on the very wiki-page you linked to.

    That you ask this question suggests you disagree. Do you? Or do you expect someone else to?


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    #3
    Sabre0001
    Registered Users Posts: 7,499 ✭✭✭Sabre0001


    Certainly agree with this principle. Interesting stories to see how it originates though!

    It is the main reason why people saying "if this had happened....". i.e. If team A had scored then this.......
    No -> You can't just change one thing and assume all else stays the same!

    🤪



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    #4
    oscarBravo
    Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 28,792 Mod ✭✭✭✭oscarBravo


    Sabre0001 wrote: »
    It is the main reason why people saying "if this had happened....". i.e. If team A had scored then this.......
    No -> You can't just change one thing and assume all else stays the same!
    bonkey used to have an excellent C. S. Lewis quote in his sig to precisely that effect.


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    #5
    Mahatma coat
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,869 ✭✭✭Mahatma coat


    eh Buddy, want to expand on this a bit and give us 'your' theory, not the physics bit obviously, but how one small change can make all the difference



    Yeah Oscar wasthinkin the same thing about Bonkey's Aslan Sig


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    #6
    bonkey
    Registered Users Posts: 15,443 ✭✭✭✭bonkey


    oscarBravo wrote: »
    bonkey used to have an excellent C. S. Lewis quote in his sig to precisely that effect.

    I'm no longer sure I had the quote correct...but what I *should* have had was:
    “Child,” said Aslan, “did I not explain to you once before that no one is ever told what would have happened?” (C. S. Lewis, Voyage of the Dawn Treader)


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    #7
    buddyonair
    Closed Accounts Posts: 70 ✭✭buddyonair


    Mahatma,

    I was thinking about a good example for you and recent events helped me.

    Before I get to the example, let me say this:
    If it could be possible to change big things with small action would implicate that literally everything is in relation to each other. The only relation I can summarize, is, that we all live on the same planet and so same rules apply for all life existing on this planet, gravity, air to breath, food in some way. Other than that it is difficult to say that a flap of the wings of a butterfly could have an effect around the world on the weather e.g.. I am not ruling out this possibility but it is definitly hard to see.

    The best and latest example for this effect would be the WTC7 incident.
    NIST said that fires on 6 floors (3 of them were severe) brought down a 47 floors building in a very symmetric manner by weakening columns.

    Am I right or am I right?


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