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Fractal of the Day
by Jim Muth
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Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: The morning started with an unwanted e-mail with a subject line that read, 'hey jamster i found what you were looking for'. I was quite puzzled, for I had no idea who jamster is or what he was looking for. But all the sender wanted was to sell him something or other that he did not need, so no damage was done. I deleted the letter to the trash bin and got to the fractal. In today's image we return to one of my favorite fractal objects, the mysterious rectangle that exists in the C=-1.7435,0 Julia set of the formula Z^(2.003)+C. To make things a bit more interesting I added the small imaginary value of 0.00025 to C. The imaginary addition gives the whole scene a twist, making an image worthy of the status of FOTD. I named the image "Golden Rectangle". One glance at the picture will reveal why I chose the name. The render time of 3-1/2 minutes is certainly within reason, and results in an overall worth of 173. For the convenience of those who do not enjoy rendering, the completed GIF image will soon be ready for download on the FOTD web site at: Before getting into today's philosophical outburst, I would like to reassure any who might be wondering where these discussions are going. I am not leading up to an endorsement of the 'psychics', 'astrologers', 'UFOers' etc. that infest our society and are hardly worth the effort it takes to write about them. Anyone with the insight to appreciate fractals already knows their deceptive games. When I ended the discussion in the most recent FOTD, I had reached the point where it had become obvious that the discipline of science, as ingenious as it is, is totally unable to handle the questions of the nature and origin of the conscious mind. In fact, until recently it had been considered somewhat improper to even *raise* the topic of consciousness in polite scientific circles. It was best swept under a rug where it could conveniently be ignored. Thankfully, those primitive days are starting to fade into the past, and it might not be too long before we see a proposed 'theory of everything' that actually includes the most important thing of all -- the conscious mind that invented the theory. Science cannot be faulted for its difficulty in addressing the topic of consciousness. After all, the mind can never be observed directly, while at the same time, it does not exist when it is not being consciously experienced personally. The scientific method of taking things apart and studying how the pieces function together, which is so effective for totally objective phenomena, fails completely when applied to subjective things such as self-awareness. (We now reach the point where the phrase 'in my opinion' must be assumed to be written before my statements.) To me, the reason that science is in this dilemma appears to be that consciousness is not part of the outer world, which itself is known to us only through a series of sensory-produced mental images. This is a striking thought. It implies that the other people we observe around us are not the isolated centers of consciousness that we would assume. They are merely animated mental images of moving bodies, corresponding in some way to an unobservable reality that may or may not be separate from ourselves. And all we can know of the minds of others we must gather from the behavior of the images of their bodies that we observe in our own minds. And mental images cannot be conscious. If they could, then every time a speaker addressed a crowd, his consciousness would exist in the mental image of him that was being created and observed in the minds of all those watching. We cannot find the self-awareness in the brains of others because those brains are also mental images in our own minds, and do not hold the self-awareness of others. So if consciousness is not an objective thing created and residing in the things we perceive as biological brains, what then is it? The (IMO) big revelations will begin appearing right here on the philofractal list in a few more days. I will need the extra time to fine-tune my words. Writing about this kind of stuff is very difficult, and it is easy to use words that misrepresent the intended thought. It was partly cloudy but very cold here at Fractal Central on Monday. The temperature hovered around 23F -5C all afternoon, which kept the dynamic fractal cats safely indoors. They needed only to stick their noses out the door for a few seconds to know that they would not want to be outside. Their moods were not too sullen, but I gave them an extra treat of tuna to be sure they were happy. This morning is starting even colder, with a temperature of 12F -11C. Luckily, we are well stocked with tuna. The work is still heavy, but never fear, I have spare FOTD's waiting. The next FOTD will appear in 24 hours, to continue the high standards of the past 7-3/4 years. Until that golden moment arrives, take care, and of course you can. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com |
START PARAMETER FILE=======================================
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END PARAMETER FILE=========================================
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