The Butterfly Effect and the Skepticism of passion
Monday Map
Guten tag reader, how do you do today?
You are reading my weekly article called Monday Map on Busyminds newsletter.
A brief history of Monday Map is the history of a desire to be timely and consistent. When I started this newsletter, I published randomly and willy-nilly. But as time went on, I conceived the need to give the reader something consistent that they can look forward to. The fruit of that conception is the Monday Map. Monday Map is a weekly publication that I package with insights, commentary analysis, mental models, and one nice picture. If you want to pursue your intellectual curiosity, you should subscribe to receive my newsletters and read them.
On to the deal for today which is valentine’s day, I will share an afterthought on my latest essay on causal opacity, my skepticism of passion, and why I don’t celebrate valentine’s day.
Gentlemen and ladies, shall we?
The Butterfly Effect
Have you had heated arguments where you remembered a dope response days after the argument ended? If yes, that is an afterthought. As many writers know, you experience a different kind of mental clarity right after you hit “send” or “publish.”
I had this similar experience of remembrance and clarity hours after I published my essay on Causal Opacity. I was like “how did I forget this? This was so badass.” But luckily for me, I have this platform to share my afterthoughts with you, the reader.
The Butterfly effect is a concept in chaos theory which states that small, sensitive, and often unpredictable changes can result in large, complex, and non-linear changes. And it is usually described simply as “a butterfly flapping its wings in California can cause a tornado in Japan.”
How does this apply to causal opacity? Well, very simple. Would you ever guess that at the root of a tornado that happened in Yokohama, Japan, that there was a butterfly in California that flapped its wings? If you can’t “guess”, then we have a problem on our hands. Also, if you knew that there was a butterfly, do you know the exact butterfly?
But then, let me reply to the literal interpreters ahead of time that the butterfly effect is more a metaphor than an accurate description of events in the real world. But it means that a slight, unnoticeable change (cause) of which its direct effect is minimal can actually result in big and complex effects in the long run.
The Butterfly effect is different from the dominos effect in the sense that with the dominos effect, we can trace the fall of all the lined dominos to a single first domino. Also, the domino effect is linear as one domino falls on the next until it reaches the end. The Butterfly effect on the other hand is so subtle that we cannot see its direct effects, we cannot predict it, and their path is not linear.
The butterfly effect meets causal opacity in our inability to find a cause to a notable effect.
The medical aid and relief team in the case of a tornado in Yokohama will never guess that a butterfly in California just harmed these people. And even if they knew about the butterfly effect, they don’t know the specific butterfly. So, should we eliminate all butterflies in California or the world just to prevent a tornado in Yokohama? NO. No wonder that the butterfly effect is an idea in chaos theory- because it makes some crucial things unpredictable, unstoppable, and non intervenable. Yet I assure you, that people who want to eliminate all chaos from the world- including the chaos necessary for growth and living will entertain the idea of eliminating all butterflies.
You may think that I am exaggerating the proposed solutions against the butterfly effect by intervention-obsessed individuals. But I am not. The attempt to eliminate all chaos- where I define chaos as everything that doesn’t respond to a neat order, has been recorded through history as a fundamental property of fascist and totalitarian governments of which to them “Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.” It is also critical to the obsessions of central planners (not necessarily to central planning) and egalitarians. It also appears in a smaller similitude in feminist panaceas that call for the neutering and redefinition of masculinity to the end that women be safe and equal.
But the greatest implication of the butterfly effect is that there are things that will always remain outside of your control. You just have to do the necessary, only the necessary, and your best.
Skepticism and Passion
I am a strong believer in passion- in people doing what they love (serial killing or crimes unincluded). But in recent times, I now mix that strong belief in passion with a little skepticism to avoid the deception that a person is motivated by passion other than some other need.
Think of a passionate painter- like Leonardo DaVinci. To know if he is indeed a passionate painter, we must check and prove that painting is both a means and an end. That is how to determine someone who is passionate about something (it is what makes serial-killing psychopaths dangerous). You must confirm that the action or skill is for the performer both a means and an end. But does this mean that that is all there is to it? Passionate people want money right?
Yet, not everything is about money.
Passionate people are humans too. That is not a surprise. Passionate people are subject to every human need- they need money to feed, to live well, and most importantly, they crave attention. When a good singer who is passionate about music sees no one pays attention to their music, they will feel a little or a lot of despair. But here is what sets them apart- that doing music is a key part of their survival hence no matter what happens, and no matter the cricket awards that their music gets, they will keep on doing it. They do it primarily to express and enjoy themselves; the incentives- attention, fame, money are by-products that are desired by our primal needs.
A short story.
A friend met me sometime last year and presented me with a “passion.” I thought- “this is nice. I love to see passionate people.” I was particularly excited because I love working with passionate people as passion transfers resilience and tenacity to its bearers. So, I conceived of this individual as someone ready to walk the long road.
Few minutes (less than five) into our conversation, this person asks me how to earn with his “passion.” And he was pretty emphatic about it. I began to think that this was not about passion. But I could be wrong. Considering the individual’s (let’s call him “Xerxes”) skill, I advised that he focused on improving his skill rather than earning from it at the moment. The despair was visible. I understood.
Months into my work with Xerxes, I observed something about his enthusiasm. Xerxes was very enthusiastic about the roles that came with exuberance, conspicuity, glamor, pomp and pageantry. But when it came to the dirty, obscure roles, he often dragged the duty through time with drudgery until the project became useless. I also noticed that Xerxes never joked with his job (which required a lot more skill and commitment than we demanded on the project) and was always on time. I could not help but conclude that Xerxes was never for passion but for incentives. I find no fault with that. The passionate people I knew were always more willing to commit to their passions than to their heavy paying jobs.
What I find wrong is the deception that you are passionate when all you want is the incentive. There is no harm in seeking incentives- we are built to seek incentives, rewards, and appreciation for our work. But people who are passionate will survive a longer road without these things than people who don’t. Like I said earlier, passion confers tenacity on its bearer and strengthens him for the unappreciated extra mile.
I remember stating in “My Fascinating Finds'' that “the most important factor that points to your interest (replace with passion) is that even if others around you can't see why you love what you do, you love it. You find it interesting, fascinating, and exciting. Joining with others may increase the excitement, but even when isolated, you savor it. That is your interest.”
Passion is what makes you able to take the long, lone road.
Why I don’t celebrate Valentine’s day
And we are here, to the personal aspect of this letter: why I don’t celebrate valentine’s day.
If you have been trying to guess, let me save you the trouble. No, it is not because I am single. I don’t celebrate Valentine’s day because my birthday is just the day after Valentine’s day (Yes, tomorrow 15th February). So, to that effect, I store up all my excitement and celebration for the good annual celebration of my birthday anniversary.
So, reader, do not if you can, forget to send me a birthday wish- I will appreciate it. If you want to send me a gift but can’t think of any, you will do more than enough by introducing your friends to my newsletter and podcasts. Thank you very much.
Of course, one picture for the week. Here you go:
See you around,
Jegdy.
And, happy s’enitnelav day.