the butterfly effect theme
The notion that a small change in the initial conditions of a system can result in large differences in a later state.
Notes
Every other time travel story could be creatively interpreted as involving some subjectively small change to the past having some subjectively large effect in the future. For this theme to apply, the motivation must indicate why the change is considered small, and the effect large. Typically, this happens when a character points it out more or less explicitly.
8 total · 3 choice · 5 minor
| Story | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| movie: A Sound of Thunder (2005) | choice | A time tourist inadvertently stepping on a butterfly 65 million years in the past resulted in an existential crisis for humanity in the present. |
| movie: The Butterfly Effect (2004) | choice | While the film technically fails to explore its namesake effect from chaos theory, as Evan's changes in the past failed to engender comparatively large changes in the future, the viewer is still invited to ponder such notions as a tornado being caused by a distant butterfly flapping its wings. |
| rbt1985e3x06 | choice | Travis explained how little changes in the past can lead to major consequences in the future through a chain of causation. The story pointedly finished with the implication that Eckels had caused a preset-day political change, in favor of fascism, in the country by accidentally stepping on a butterfly in the age of dinosaurs, thus illustrating the butterfly effect somewhat literally. |
| ds96x09 | minor | Julian and his augments learned that very small changes in their mathematical models resulted in very large differences in their model predictions. |
| movie: Jurassic Park (1993) | minor | Dr. Ian Malcolm explained how a butterfly flapping its wing in Peking can result in rain over Central Park when it would other wise have been sunny. |
| rd1988e4x05 | minor | Lister commented on how amazing it was that a tiny difference could have such an enormous impact. |
| tng3x15 | minor | a butterfly flaps its wings in the past and the Federation is at total war in the present |
| tz1959e4x10 | minor | Harvey warned Paul that meddling in the past, even a little, was liable to start a temporal chain reaction. |