> Yes, the butterfly flapping it's wings in Brazil (or whatever) can drastically influence the weather a continent away.
> But I think the true wonder of chaos needs to consider that if that butterfly were turned a few degrees in another direction, the resultant weather can be completely different.
The former is simply a different way of saying the latter.
For balance it’s worth say that chaos can greatly magnify the impact of small variables, while greatly suppressing the impact of others. Which are two reasons that make specific predictions in chaotic systems difficult or impossible.
The productive response is to look for behaviors of a given chaotic system. Which can provide a lot of insight, despite specific unpredictability. (I.e. “this heat is going to generate more storms, even if we can’t place those storms on a calendar.”)
> But I think the true wonder of chaos needs to consider that if that butterfly were turned a few degrees in another direction, the resultant weather can be completely different.
The former is simply a different way of saying the latter.
For balance it’s worth say that chaos can greatly magnify the impact of small variables, while greatly suppressing the impact of others. Which are two reasons that make specific predictions in chaotic systems difficult or impossible.
The productive response is to look for behaviors of a given chaotic system. Which can provide a lot of insight, despite specific unpredictability. (I.e. “this heat is going to generate more storms, even if we can’t place those storms on a calendar.”)