On the Law of Unintended Consequences

10/06/2007 10:04 AM - 10:44 AM

The Law of Unintended Consequences states that every action taken is the cause of unforeseen effects, which is tautology but possibly informative through our tendency towards reiterative learning.

The status of Unintended Consequences is ambivalent. It may be that the effects are positive, as in the case of Adam Smith’s “Invisible Hand” wherein actions undertaken for the profit of the individual have a beneficial effect on the group as a whole. It may be detrimental, as in the famous case of the butterfly that, alighting from a flower in Japan, caused a hurricane over Texas. Or it may be indeterminate, as in the case of Pandora’s Box, the last escapee of which is reported to be Hope.

The problem with assigning a status to the Law of Unintended Consequences is really the problem of assigning a status to Stories in general. We call it a Tragedy because we stopped the story where the noble hero died as a result of his fatal flaw. We call it a comedy because we stopped the story when the common protagonist got the girl. If we had declined to accept the arbitrary end point and let the film keep playing, the tone of the tale would change as well. The death of the hero brought about sweeping reform and the group benefited by the effect. The marriage of the protagonist was a lousy one and the kids that issued forth were evil little shits. But these too are arbitrary endings. The sweeping reforms had the unforeseen effect of fomenting a revolution that sat a Hitler on the throne. The evil little shits grew up and grew kind and made movies that brought about sweeping reforms. The rule of the Hitler brought about the journal of an Anne Frank that brought about the perspective of a fifth-grader three thousand miles and seventy years away that brought about a book that brought about a paradigm that brought about a business that brought about a school that brought about a painting that brought about a theology that brought about a reform that brought about a drink that brought about a flower that brought about a butterfly that brought about a rainstorm that brought about a situation with a common protagonist and a girl that brought about a couple of evil shits that brought about a movie that brought about a reform that brought about a revolution that bought about a Hitler that brought about a comic book that brought about a laugh. On and on, ad infinitum, ad nauseam. Ad hoc, of course, merely pointing out how little we can claim to know, and waiting to see what the effect of that will be. Funny, in some weird way, would be my guess.