Human Action and Historical Contingency

In the modern day, it is often that we humans feel as if our actions could not possibly change the course of history. After watching a Superman movie, after the President of the United States of America gives his inaugural address, or after our significant other decides they don’t want to be significant to us for another minute longer, these events can make us feel as if there is no way we can literally “change the world”. Anyone, at any moment, in any place, can in fact help shape the history of the world. This is the beauty of Historical Contingency, events unravel randomly across the globe, resulting in a history based off of individuals actions.

The butterfly effect is a great example of random events changing the course of history, by deciding to write this blog I will spend time in which I could have spent doing a number of other things, like meeting my future wife or helping to start a company with a friend over lunch. Small decisions impact our lives, and in turn the life of the earth. This is quite a scary concept, if one person can change the world we should cross our fingers to hope it isn’t going to be someone along the likes of Hitler.

With this knowledge, as a human citizen privileged with a great education, I feel that I have a responsibility to make sure the course of history isn’t going to show that we (present inhabitants of earth) destroyed ourselves. As outlandish as this seems, I feel that everyone who understands that individuals can change the world should hold some responsibility in making the world a better place. Currently I am not aiming at ending global poverty, finding a cure to cancer, or researching clean renewable sources of energy, but I am an educated young man with all of those things on my mind and when possible, donate or volunteer to causes I see noble and worthy.

Frederick Douglass did not think he was going to become a prominent abolitionist figure and author within pre-civil war America, but events in his life lead him to becoming just that. This comes from the randomness of Historical Contingency, it is possible that many other men had very similar experiences as Douglass, but did not end up becoming major abolitionist leaders.