So you wanna talk about “chaos theory” huh? You’ve probably heard this term while fighting off the Z’s in a college lecture room. In layman’s terms, “chaos theory” describes a system in which slightly different inputs result in astronomically different outcomes. If you travelled back in time to the 15th century and purposefully stepped on an ant, you may return to see the modern world in a ruin – all because you chose to kill that poor ant. That single ant may have been the vector for a deadly blood-borne disease, which infected a local anteater shortly after your catastrophic visit. That anteater may have then been killed by a hunter, who sold its organs to an eccentric animal collector. This exposed the collector to the ant’s disease, which caused him to die an awful, slow, and painful death. The disease soon spread to the rest of human civilization, forcing entire continents into a state of disarray. Little did we know, the Martians (yes, they exist) have been spying on us for the past millennia, waiting for the right moment to strike. After watching us humans struggle to cope with the chaos, they seized the moment and mobilized all of their troops to invade Earth. When they arrived on our deteriorating planet, the Martians wasted no time in enslaving the surviving human population.

Two hundred years into the Martian dynasty, us humans managed to form a secret coalition against their oppressors, and coordinate a united strike against the despotic extraterrestrials. This resulted in a war that lasted for 25 years – ending in a nuclear fallout that nearly exterminated both species. With humans and Martians practically extinct, the anteaters began to thrive again. Since then, evolution has granted them laser shooting eyes, 27% more brain power, and an adamantium exoskeleton; which allowed them to become the dominant life-form in our solar system. All because you stepped on a motherf*cking ant!

If you need a simpler representation of the chaos theory, feel free to check out the Fat Brain Chaos Machine! It beautifully simulates chaotic systems with only a few pendulum arms, and involves no time travel whatsoever!