The process we call “cause and effect” is complicated. Our world is full of it, but it doesn’t always operate as we think it should.

Our model too often is the light switch. You flip the switch, the light comes on (or goes off). It’s instantaneous. Some cause-effect relationships are like that.

The more complicated the system, the more we see both a network of causes and effects (not a one to one phenomenon). With that complexity comes delay. An action (or network of causes) produces varying effects over time. The actions we do today, have an effect on today; but they also can affect tomorrow, next week, next year, even years from now. Effects that we initially take to be positive (or negative) can, over time, transition to what we take to be negative (or positive).

Every action we perform has effects, some intended, some unintended. Each of those actions can be interpreted by us or others as a result of other actions (our own actions and the actions of others). Since we operate within a social network of acting people, people whose actions produce effects that impinge on our own actions, the degree of credit we can claim (or deny) for any effect is rarely an all or nothing affair.