
As humans, our mere ability to think 'What if?' makes us believe that we are in control. But do we really change things, do we affect the reality. If we do , to what degree? It is said that if a butterfly makes an extra flap of its wings, the reality can change so much so that after a decade a nonexistent cyclone can result.Is it really true? Even if it is, does the butterfly really have a control enough to make that extra flap? Is it really free will or an illusion of free will?
A very fascinating example is seen in first person games like Prince of Persia or God of wars and so on.The game makers try hard to give the gamers a feeling that they can do anything in that virtual world. The game programmers know very well though that they can program only a limited number of options. There cannot be more than a finite number of stimulus- response pairs that they would have programmed. Even then, while we play the game we feel that we are in complete control (at least that is the aim of a good gamemaker).
So, though we have choices at a micro micro level, we hardly have a holistic choice. Thus, in a game of Prince of Persia , if I count the total number of times I jumped in the game and compare it with a similar number for my friend, they may differ by say 20 jumps, but still the end result in the game is same namely, I will reach the final villain and kill him, so would he. What if this is true in the real world? The butterfly may think that its extra flap can cause a cyclone, but she has no idea how infinite other variables are always adjusting themselves to cause what is unchangeable, or rather inevitable in either good or bad way.
What I mean is if 20 of my friend's extra jumps , don't change the end of the game by even a pixel, what can we expect from the little butterfly flapping an extra wing !