this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2025
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Don't be mean. I promise to do my best to judge that fairly.
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I actually think that's because "the butterfly effect" has been massively overblown in time travel media.
Like, realistically the biggest issue with you going back in time is that you'd probably end up introducing a plague in the past that would wipe out a ton of life; not exactly a minor change. However, if we ignore that, and you don't try to do anything radical like inventing electricity a thousand years too early, what would your presence in the past actually do? As long as you were willing to keep your head down, learn the local language, and live the peasant life, what grand consequences could you cause? None.
The butterfly effect is not about directly causing meaningful change in the past.
It seems you missed the point of my comment. My argument is that the actual chance that your actions indirectly causing a meaningful change down the line is realistically zero. If you go and live a simple peasant life, I don't think +1 peasant in say the Holy Roman Empire will cause any repercussions.
Ah. In that case, I think you're wrong.