Mathematics? It's all just life.

glatt · 06-03-2004, 11:36 AM

I like the ball on the hill example.

You can also use the same idea to describe politics and international relations. Look at the 2000 elections. Those elections were very close. The country was split pretty much 50/50. Almost perfectly balanced. Some clerk in a little county in Florida designs a ballot one way, instead of another, and as a result, the entire world is sent on a drastically different course.

No-one knows what would have happend if the butterfly ballott was designed differently, and Gore was elected. Maybe 9/11 would have happened, maybe not. Iraq almost certainly wouldn't have happened. The oil prices might still be low, or something else could have happened to cause them to be even higher.

There's your "butterfly effect" or is it a "butterfly ballot effect?"

06-03-2004, 11:36 AM	#1
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	I like the ball on the hill example. You can also use the same idea to describe politics and international relations. Look at the 2000 elections. Those elections were very close. The country was split pretty much 50/50. Almost perfectly balanced. Some clerk in a little county in Florida designs a ballot one way, instead of another, and as a result, the entire world is sent on a drastically different course. No-one knows what would have happend if the butterfly ballott was designed differently, and Gore was elected. Maybe 9/11 would have happened, maybe not. Iraq almost certainly wouldn't have happened. The oil prices might still be low, or something else could have happened to cause them to be even higher. There's your "butterfly effect" or is it a "butterfly ballot effect?"

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)