The Butterfly Effect. Dir. Eric Bress. Perf. Ashton Kutcher, Amy Smart. 2004. Film.

Ever since I watched Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart in “The Butterfly Effect,” I have been fascinated by the concepts of randomness and determinism. In short, Kutcher’s character develops the ability to go back in time through a journal and change his future life, but whenever he changes his past different elements of his life, both intended and unintended, change in the future.

I was only a young lad at the time when I saw it, but the idea stuck with me – that small, specific decisions we make could have drastic consequences on the rest of our lives. This concept is always something I have wanted to write about in some capacity, so I certainly attribute this film as a decent part of “The Intersection’s” motivation. Though I without a doubt drifted significantly from the film – namely from the science fiction aspect – the overarching fundamentals carry similar themes and ask similar questions.

"Chaos." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The Metaphysics Research Lab, 13 Oct. 2015. Web. 16 Apr. 2016.

Though I was initially captivated by the ideas of “The Butterfly Effect,” I had no idea until recently that the themes of the film represented an actual scientific concept, known as chaos theory. I used this encyclopedia entry for the bulk of my knowledge on the scientific principles of chaos theory, which it defines as the notion that, “the smallest of changes in a system can result in very large differences in that system’s behavior.”

Though there is much scientific research on the theory, as the Stanford Encyclopedia claims: it may be easier to conceive of chaos theory in a more informal or paradigmatic way. Especially as the principles of chaos theory are extremely relevant to the foundation of everyday life, it is important to frame the theory in a way the average person can understand. And that is where fiction comes in. The average person on the street does not have the ability to comprehend the nonlinear models and quantum mechanics of the detailed theory (nor do I). The theory of chaos is a very complicated one in its intricate details, but is also one at its core that has profound consequences on everyday life – consequences that many people may not be aware of. However, throughout my writing I at times went back to the scientific foundations of the theory to make sure what I was writing still fit the broader concepts I was aiming to represent.

Cortázar, Julio. Hopscotch. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. New York: Pantheon (US), 1966. Print.

“The Intersection” is certainly not the first work of fiction to explore the themes of determinism and chaos theory. In fact, I think the theme of fate is without a doubt one of the most common throughout all literature. However, not many have illustrated the concepts in a direct, representative way, as I tried to do in “The Intersection,” and as Julio Cortázar absolutely did in his 1963 Spanish novel, “Rayuela,” translated to English three years later as, “Hopscotch.” This book even takes the concept a step further, as the novel can be read according to two different sequences of chapters. It tells the story of an Argentine intellectual, who experiences numerous adventures through the streets of Paris and Buenos Aires. It is a beautiful and hectic story, and one people interested in the topic should absolutely read.

MathemagicalProofs. "An Introduction to Chaos Theory with the Lorenz Attractor." YouTube. N.p., 2 Dec. 2011. Web. 16 Apr. 2016.

This is a video that I used as an additional source on chaos theory, in addition to the Stanford Encyclopedia. It goes even more in-depth into certain aspects of the theory than the encyclopedia – especially in terms of experiments and demonstrations. When leaning a completely new concept, I often find it useful to watch a video, as even if I don’t understand perfectly much of what they are talking about, merely seeing visualizations of what I have read is beneficial to gaining a firmer grasp on the material.

Chaos theory at its roots is an extremely complex aggregation of what ifs. I came to learn that fiction is an appropriate way to explore this concept, because, in a sense, I believe that is very similar to the act of writing fiction itself – a series of what ifs – and then a further series of what ifs based on the original one. And so that was a significant part of the creative process for me – reading back what happened in chapter 1 or 2, and then asking, what if?

Run Lola Run. Dir. Tom Tykwer. Prod. Stefan Arndt. Perf. Franka Potente, Herbert Knaup . 1999. Film.

Like Cortizar’s “Hopscotch,” this a work that further builds on concepts of free will and determinism. The German thriller film tells the story of Lola, a woman who must come up with $100,000 in order to save her boyfriend’s life. This film is coincidentally laid out somewhat similar to “The Intersection,” despite the fact that I did not see it until an entire first draft of the story was completed.

There are three “scenarios” of the plot, each beginning from the same starting point and drifting in different directions based on various circumstances. It also touches on long-term consequences, as the lives of people Lola runs into along the way often have enormous consequences based on their encounters. As with “Hopscotch,” those interested in the broader concepts of chaos theory and determinism should without a doubt give this film a look.

Vidal, John. "The Future of Food." The Guardian. N.p., 21 Jan. 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2016.

One of my favorite sections of the story is the part in Chapter 3 from Elizabeth’s perspective. It represents some of the larger implications of chaos theory, I believe, as perhaps the achievements of some people are partly dependent on the mere happenstance of what brings their parents or even grandparents together. It also afforded me to think of what a realistic scientific achievement would be a half-century or so away from now – and this, too, is based on real science.

As laid out in this article, the world’s population will reach over 9 billion by the year 2050. How to feed this growing population will be one of the major challenges for the human race, especially considering that much of the current mass food production is harmful to the environment. We will need to grow a larger amount of food from places we right now are not able to grow from. This is something that scientists are working on today, and which Elizabeth ultimately solves in the story.