With the monsoons continuing to deluge Pakistan, producing flooding, causing a lack of shelter, food, and clean drinking water, and resulting in death, I wonder, “Can’t something be done to prevent this?”
It is silly, of course, to think that the weather can be controlled — or is it? Could a monsoon, hurricane, typhoon, or tornado be redirected to a less populated area or safely dissipated before damage is done? Though it may seem laughable or even arrogant to propose, consider “the butterfly effect” which suggests otherwise.
The Butterfly Effect, based on chaos theory, postulates that a small event, such as a butterfly flapping its wings, could have a much larger effect someplace else, such as altering, causing, or averting a tornado. (Check out the Wikipedia entry for the Butterfly Effect for more information than you likely care to know).
Although the location of the altered weather is random and cannot be predetermined, it seems that something could somehow be done to mitigate the damage of a developing storm. Yes, it would take more than a butterfly or two, but caught early enough, it would seem that a reasonably small event could be introduced to calm a storm’s fury.
It would be akin to the idea of altering the path of an approaching asteroid. If done when it was far enough away, the trajectory need only be changed a fraction of a degree to cause it to completely miss the earth. Again, it would be a minor event, producing a huge change. Why not?
(While we’re on the subject, I recommend that you not watch the 2004 movie, The Butterfly Effect.)
Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book The Successful Author for insider tips and insights.