This post is titled after a research paper delivered by mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz, who was a pioneer in Chaos Theory.

Can this really... (Image courtesy of Richard Bartz, Munich aka Makro Freak via Wikimedia Commons.)

Chaos Theory is a mathematical invention that refers to logistic maps, strange attractors, topological mixing, density of periodic orbits, and Lyapunov exponents, to name some of the outgrowth that has formed around chaos. If you’re anything like me, you’re saying, What?

What, indeed. This confusion leads to my own theory that the words about Chaos Theory are more chaotic than the theory itself. For the 99.99999% of us who are higher-mathematically challenged, there is hope. Clearing all the mathematical rubble, we get Murphy’s Law, which states: What Can Go Wrong, Will.

Although we can’t blame the butterflies for every tornado, hurricane, or tsunami, still, they might not be as innocent as they look. I wouldn’t doubt hornets and scorpions have something to do with the issue, too.

As if Chaos Theory isn’t enough, we’ve also got the gloomy prospects projected by the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which gave birth to the idea that entropy will increase until the universe dies. Synonyms for entropy are breakup, collapse, decay, decline, degeneration, destruction, falling apart, and worsening.

So much for putting on a happy face.

Fortunately, there is hope. We have a counter-theory which says What Goes Around Comes Around. This suggests that life is more like a merry-go-round, cyclical, and less like a plummet into the Abyss, all-too-linear.

What we’ve got so far here is an either-or, but what we need is a Sometimes.

Sometimes, a flapping Brazilian butterfly may cause a tornado in Texas, but Sometimes a butterfly will catch the eye of a lepidopterist who will capture it, kill it, and mount it on a display board. And Sometimes the flapping wings of the butterfly will catch the eye of an awestruck human being who says, “Isn’t that beautiful?”

... cause this? (Image courtesy of Wikipedia.)