Butterfly Effect 蝴蝶效应

‘Butterfly effect’ 蝴蝶效应

When the government issued policies to curb second home purchase by some families in an aim to curb rising home prices, they probably did not expect the divorce rate in many cities to increase as couples went to great lengths to circumvent the new rules. The phenomenon can be explained by the “butterfly effect,” an idea developed by American meteorologist Edward Lorenz, who argued that the flapping of a butterfly's wings in South America could affect the weather as far away as Texas in the United States. The theory describes how small and seemingly unrelated things can impact large and complicated systems. The concept has been used to explain changes in stock markets and financial systems. It is also used to explain how small flaws in government policies can lead to large-scale shocks in a society and vice-versa.