> You say "No single event made it
> happen. Events compound to create the
> trend."

> ...according to Chaos Theory,
> small events often set up a chain reaction
> of events that will continue to compound
> over time that ultimately result in a big
> event.

Pretty similar to each other, eh?

And so, according to Chaos Theory could you say: internal combustion engine, vehicles, global travel, gas, more lethal and varied forms of war, power generators built with the aid of machines, electricity, modern cities, aeroplanes, 9/11???

Why stop with just the engine, though? Why not go back further... the iron age? Or further still... when man first discovered how to smelt metal (for without metal we have not engine).

Or better yet... the invention of the wheel! Or Fire!!!

Reminds me of a show called "Connections" which was about inventions and how "connected" they were/are. And it really showed how much of a fluke our modern world is.

What gets me though, is that trying to predict where a certain event could lead is near on impossible (do you think the first person to create fire would have ever thought it would, via a series of "connections," end up in the world in which we now live?). And yet, looking back, things can seem so clear cut and "obvious." (I've noticed this many times with events within my life.)

Michael Ross


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