So a tiny difference in a starting state can magnify unpredictably over time. Lorenz took to summarizing this idea with a metaphor about seagulls. A friend suggested something more picturesque, and by 1972 this was formalized into the title of a talk given by Lorenz. Here’s another holy relic of the field (see figure on the next page). Thus was born the symbol of the chaos theory revolution, the butterfly effect.[*],[4]
