system
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human
Isn't chaos theory/butterfly effect just a fact of life?

Sorry if this is a stupid question. I searched a few other places but couldn't find an answer or couldn't find one that wasn't over my head. I'm not a science person so I'm hoping someone can explain this to me.

I usually only see people talking about chaos theory/the butterfly effect as it "applies" to specific examples or scenarios. But, unless I'm misunderstanding the definition, isn't the butterfly effect just a fact of life? Doesn't it just apply to everything?

EDIT - Should clarify what I mean here. I don't mean that every given scenario in the universe is a chaotic system. Rather, I'm more asking whether the Universe *in itself* is a chaotic system.

My understanding is that in a chaotic system, the initial state is very sensitive to very small changes, which may lead to big changes in the outcome later. But doesn't that apply to life in general, and arguably everything since the beginning of the universe?

I mean...what is the alternative to the butterfly effect? That there are instances where small phenomena have no change on a larger outcome? But even then, that small phenomenon occurred and took up the space for another phenomenon that otherwise could've happened that would have had a larger effect on the given outcome. I don't know if that makes sense or not.

I guess part of what I'm asking is whether chaos theory is a "theory" in the scientific sense of the term or the casual sense.


EDIT2 - I thought of another way to phrase what I'm trying to say. There are many movies out there dedicated to the whole butterfly effect thing - where you see the protagonist go through many different possibilities or alternate lives based on minute changes to their younger self, etc. (Mr. Nobody is the first one that comes to mind.)

Now, obviously these movies are greatly simplifying things for the purposes of the movie, but are they fundamentally incorrect? Like, is it patently UNTRUE that, say, whether you fall and break your knee one summer when you're 9 years old can set off a string of events that change who you end up married to?

If that isn't correct, why? Or if it is correct - why can't the cause/effect string of variables keep going back to the beginning of time/the universe?
gpt
Some systems are far *more* sensitive to initial conditions, the classic example being air turbulence. I.e. small change leads to entirely unpredictable outcome. It's a mathematical property of the system in question. 

Some systems are relatively stable, for instance we can predict the movements of planets in the solar system with high precision, centuries in advance, but it's difficult to predict the weather a month from now.