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Old February 11th 17, 03:23 PM posted to sci.space.history
Jeff Findley[_6_]
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Posts: 2,307
Default Debbie Reynolds and Space History

In article ,
says...

Jeff Findley wrote:

Agreed. But even if we accept that theory as true, what people miss
about "the butterfly effect" is that every other variable has to be
exactly correct in order for the butterfly to matter in the first place.
Instead, people like to point to it as an example of "one person can
make a difference" and they use it as a motivational talking point. The
butterfly effect is a great little story if you're trying to motivate
people.

But, in the real world, Debbie Reynolds really had nothing to do with
the space program. The credit goes to the politicians who funded it
"blank check" style in the early 1960's and to the thousands of people
that actually worked on the program and were paid from that huge pool of
money.


As far as Stuf4 post I think he deserves an honorary Dirk Gently Detective
badge for his original supposition.
As far a casually dismissing the "the butterfly effect" or "one person can
make a difference" (which are actually two very different theories) the
relationship between the actress who played 7 of 9 on ST:Voyager modesty and
the Affordable Care Act is a good example of both theories.


I'm not sure that Jeri Ryan had much of anything to do with the ACA, but
I'm willing to entertain this notion if you can find a cite. A quick
Google search turned up nothing for me.

But again, I'd like to emphasize that the conditions have to be just
right for that one person to make a difference and/or that one person
has to be special in some way (e.g. an easily recognized Hollywood
celebrity).

What you normally have is many people united to accomplish a certain
goal with one person (or several people) who becomes a leader and/or
figurehead of "the movement". Yes that one person is important (e.g.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.), but even when that person is removed from
the movement (e.g. his assassination), it does not necessarily mean the
movement dies right then and there. This is because the movement is
bigger, and the support is stronger, than just the people leading it.

Jeff
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