I’m not sure how much sense it’ll make to anyone else, but this was a hilarious (to me) train of thought when a moth caused me to trip in the bathroom, grab the shower wall and steady myself.
Bored pondering turned to hyperbole, wondering how far that turn of events could have taken. Grab the shower curtain, slip on a mis-placed bottle, take out the toilet cistern and flood the house? Fall through the thin gyprock wall and take out the power to the house, causing a fire and burning down the street? It’s the thing of children’s fiction, amazing campfire stories or timeless mythology.
Maybe the whole thing about the Butterfly Effect actually started simply. Someone was walking down the street and they got distracted by a fly, enough so that they walked into a hedge.
This is where it takes a turn for the silly - as with so many stories, they take on a life of their own.
On the next retelling, it wasn’t a hedge - it was a pole.
The next time, it was a moth and a pole (specifics make it more believable).
The next - a moth and a parked car (modernising).
A week later, a guy told a group of mates and it was a killer wasp while he was driving, and it nearly caused a giant car crash!
One of those guys told it to a girl, so he said it was a beautiful butterfly, trying to point out that he was interested in the beauty of nature.
She retold it to her friends, so it was a beautiful butterfly causing a pileup on the highway!
Who knows where it could have gone - nuclear missiles and aliens?
It all starts with a bug.
On actually reading the actual tale of the Butterfly Effect and how it got its name, it was a similarly silly turn of events and unlikely circumstances. Check it out on the Butterfly Effect Wikipedia page.