Bradbury's butterfly

PETER DIZIKES ("The meaning of the butterfly," Ideas, June 8) claims that pop culture misunderstands Edward Lorenz's meaning of "the butterfly effect." Lorenz maintained that we cannot know the cause of an event for certain. However, is it not possible that when pop culture uses that term, it draws meaning from Ray Bradbury's 1952 short story, "A Sound of Thunder," which appeared years before Lorenz's work? In that story, the accidental death of one small butterfly changes history. With all due respect to Lorenz, I suspect more of us are familiar with science fiction than with science. Bradbury's "butterfly effect" may be poor science, but it speaks to a belief in the interconnectedness of life.

ROSEMARY C. BUJA
Medway