The Butterfly Effect
2/8/2004 2:03 AM
Here is what kind of geek I am.2/8/2004 2:03 AM
When I heard about a time travel movie called The Butterfly Effect, I assumed it was a reference to the Ray Bradbury short story "A Sound of Thunder." In this story, a company offers time travel safaris where people can go back in time to hunt dinosaurs. They take great pains to make sure history is altered in no way. However, one of the hunters steps on a butterfly and when they return to their present time, they find things have changed.
Instead, the movie refers to the part of chaos theory that states the flapping of a butterfly's wings in one part of the world causes a storm in another part of the world. Although both references could apply, I suppose the chaos theory one is a little more widely known. Then again, it was referenced in a Simpsons episode. And, just maybe, more people will become aware of it later this year when that movie is released.