Editing Causality (physics) (section)

==Distributed causality==
Theories in [[physics]] like the [[butterfly effect]] from [[chaos theory]] open up the possibility of a type of [[distributed parameter systems]] in causality. {{Citation needed|date=March 2016}} The butterfly effect theory proposes:
<blockquote>"Small variations of the initial condition of a nonlinear dynamical system may produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system."</blockquote> This opens up the opportunity to understand a distributed causality.

A related way to interpret the butterfly effect is to see it as highlighting the difference between the application of the notion of causality in physics and a [[Causality|more general use of causality]] as represented by [[INUS|Mackie's INUS conditions]]. In classical (Newtonian) physics, in general, only those conditions are (explicitly) taken into account, that are both necessary and sufficient. For instance, when a massive sphere is caused to roll down a slope starting from a point of [[Mechanical equilibrium|unstable equilibrium]], then its velocity is assumed to be caused by the force of gravity accelerating it; the small push that was needed to set it into motion is not explicitly dealt with as a cause. In order to be a physical cause there must be a certain proportionality with the ensuing effect. A distinction is drawn between triggering and causation of the ball's motion.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}} By the same token the butterfly can be seen as triggering a tornado, its cause being assumed to be seated in the atmospherical energies already present beforehand, rather than in the movements of a butterfly.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}}