25 iconic Jurassic Park moments that we will never forget

11. Chaos theory

Chaos theory isn’t exactly easy to understand. It is about predictability and doing the math to try and figure out the success of something based on the probable outcome. Or at least that’s what it kind of sounds like when Ian Malcolm is very obviously flirting with Ellie Sattler to explain it.

Let’s be really honest: Was anyone watching that scene and paying attention to what he’s actually saying or were we all falling in love with Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm? That scene, while important, does explain chaos theory in a pretty easily understandable way.

The idea is that you can’t really predict certain things, so you come up with all the outcomes that you can foresee and you do the math based on those ideas. His idea is to show Ellie with water, having her predict which way the water will fall. She, and we, realize that you can’t really foresee which way it will hit.

Using that logic, a chaotician can use deductive reasoning to try and see whether or not something is worth the risk. Clearly, Ian learns that the park is not worth the risk but at the time of explaining this all to Ellie, his reasoning for being there makes sense.