Feeding My Ignorance

When you start to think about it, it is sobering - no - downright scary just how many people and events may be affected in the future by the decisions we make, individually and collectively, today.  I may believe that I have some idea of the immediate effects however, given the way that the world is now connected so much more than ever before, it is next to impossible to determine the totality of the effect of each and every decision we make.

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Of course, most of the time we cannot afford to even think about it - but when you do, what hits me (at least) is that my actions are going to reverbrate around the world like the flapping of the ubiquitous butterfly in complexity theory.  That is in no way giving my own self any particular status, even the least important of us can have a profound (and often unexpected) impact on the world.

In my previous post, If Only, I described a triangle with the point at the moment of decision making, representing all of the factors - known and unknown - that had contributed to reaching that point. There is a reversed triangle - spreading from that point - that represents all of the effects of the decision - again, both known and unkown - stretching into the future - and places unimagined when the decision is made.

The idea of Six Degrees of Separation would suggest that within just six 'steps' from the initial decision it is possible that everyone might have been affected. Does it worry you that whether you choose to have have a cappucino or a latte might affect everyone on the planet?

Don't misunderstand me - I am not saying that every trivial decision we make does have such an effect - BUT - every single one could have such an effect.

The connection to the If Only post is that the thing we might consider changing in the past has played out through all these myriad of effects to where we are now. Changing that initial thing from A to B does more than just that - it sets in motion a chain of events that might end up anywhere and, most likely, nowhere near the place we are right now.

Despite the hype around self help that often pushes for "change just one thing" - the reality is that you cannot do that - it is impossible to just change one thing. Of course, that is why the self help advice often works (and is therefore good advice) - because changing one thing sets in motion a chain reaction that leads to a different place - but that may or may not be a good place.

This is a topic that has already generated a few posts - if you search through what I have previously put online you will find numerous references to the interconnectedness of things and the difficulties of predicting, with any accuracy, the results of our decisions, especially those major, life changing, decisions. I have no doubt that I will return to the subject - it certainly merits more thought