Change just one thing and...

Something seems to have changed...
By Alex Ness
October 6, 2023

THE REASON I WRITE ABOUT IT

I was asked more than once, many times in fact, why I've offered up alternative history stories or ideas, or even Chaos Theory, or the Butterfly Effect. It is because I get more emails about the concept than anything else I write about. The thought to me isn't a bit of silly crap, instead, it discusses, and might prove, the importance of the event and the size of the change.

For example, what if JFK survived the assassination, or it was proven to be LBJ directed, and CIA attempted. That'd lead, I believe, to a very different world, let alone America. Do Americans pull out of Vietnam and South Vietnam becomes a successful state, fail to reach the Moon, invade Cuba, or something more drastic? Why should we ask? Because the questions asked show what was possible.

Some think it has to be a conspiracy theory to reconsider an event, or look at the potentials for why something happened or did not happen. But I am not suggesting anyone worry over that aspect of it, but to look at the results of the change. It is the results of the change where we see what was at stake initially. That is, whatever you think caused the change is not important. Motives of the human agency that led to the change, are a different subject to consider.

Think this, without anyone going back in time, what if one of the assassination attempts of Adolf Hitler had succeeded? What do I mean? There weren't that many, were there? At least 42 times yes, you read that right, 42 TIMES. The chances were better that he'd die, over the course of 13 years of attempts, than survive, and most attempts failed completely, and even if someone died, each attempt failed to kill him. Would the World War have reached a nuclear end, had Hitler died prior or during the war? Yes I am aware the bombs hit Japan, not Germany, but had Hitler died early on in the war, would it have been fought to the end we know, or ended much sooner, or at all?

“For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.”  Benjamin Franklin

Another reason people dislike alternate history, is that most of those offering ideas, haven't a mastery of the facts of the time, the present of the question, even if they have all of the facts for the exact moment.  To change the future from a change in the past, one must be able to interpret how people would react, what is the prevalent understanding of the day. To predict the change, one must understand all the many factors of the day, time and place being changed.

I won't get into the exacts with this, but there was a natural disaster, unusual, unexpected and immense, and the people in the region reacted by attacking the minority population as if that group had created the disaster. It was absolutely irrational. Had this been the subject of what changed, would anyone have believed that changing the normal weather or geological stability would lead to a slaughter of the minority population? I doubt it would come to mind.

"The things that really change the world, according
to Chaos theory, are the tiny things. A butterfly flaps
its wings in the Amazonian jungle, and subsequently
a storm ravages half of Europe.”  Neil Gaiman

Are there positive results of a change? Is the change only noticeable when the world goes to Hell as a result of it? No.  However, I think if there were to be noticeable events, they'd likely to be negative but I've read that upon reaching the moment of test firing the very first atomic bomb, various members of the development team confessed afterward that they feared a disaster, and it would set off a chain reaction leading to unimaginable destruction. In ways, that was a positive occurrence versus a feared worst case scenario. I've read that similar thoughts were expressed by physicists at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. In a fashion, when the future is unknown and a dangerous event works as predicted, or hoped for, it demonstrates what happens when something happens that could offer a massive change if it went the wrong direction. But one truth about the Butterfly effect is that it happens and we don't know the cause.  That is, rather than a moment you can point to, the reality is, we can't track it, we can't see it, it happens and feels exactly like it should have happened.

HISTORY CHANGED

Some Fine Books to Seek that reconsider moments of History

Whether it is a change in our known history, a change in events or lack of event, these books show a variety within the speculative fiction genre. Each is highly recommended. The turn happens in history, science, plague, and more.

REVIEWS AND STUFF

FINALLY...  I can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email Alexanderness63@gmail.com. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them, but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry that I'd dispense them for free to others.

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