There is a concept in mathematics and physics--specifically nonlinear dynamics--called chaos. You have probably heard of the butterfly effect: the idea that small changes to a variable in a complex system can result in massive changes in an outcome (the name was coined by Edward Lorenz based on the premise that a butterfly flapping its wings could ultimately cause a tornado). But human society itself, too, is susceptible the laws of physics. In Fluke, British philosopher Brian Klaas examines human society as a chaotic system. Through captivating historical examples, he demonstrates that each and every action taken by each and every person can have massive, disproportional impacts on the future, but that it is also neurologically and computationally impossible to predict what each individual action will ultimately change. The result of considering society as a chaotic system is the realization that cause is not proportional to effect and that sometimes we simply get lucky. Humans inhabit this planet because long ago, the appropriate chemical reactions just happened to occur to synthesize single-celled organisms that later evolved into the vast biota that inhabit Earth today. This "Fluke" is just one in an incomprehensibly large series of coincidences that led to the world being exactly like it is now. As a reader, the book sent me down a path of reflection on all the simple, seemingly irrelevant choices I have made that ultimately made a massive difference in my current life. But the other striking realization the book asks us to grapple with is that just as our own every action changes our path-dependent futures, so do the actions of those around us--or even the ones of those whom we have never met. And as our civilization becomes more interconnected, the system becomes more complex, and the presence of chaos is further accentuated.
Klaas's application of physical laws to sociology opens up a whole new understanding of the world; why do conspiracy theories spread? Why do coincidences make us so uncomfortable? Why are long term weather predictions so often wrong? Why do stock markets function? Is it really true that you can never know what would have happened if you had made the other choice? Even in an imaginary world where you could build a computer simulation of the entire universe and every atom in it, wouldn't it still be impossible to predict how an action would change things because the very act of doing so also creates a change? Fluke is the best food for thought I have read since Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens. The historical examples are mind-blowing, and the book has led to a great many discussions about chaos theory and its presence in our lives with my friends. As it turns out, there is, in fact, such a thing as serendipity.