; Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 10:56:33 -0500 ; From: Jim Muth ; Subject: [Fractint] FOTD 15-01-03 (Nest of Tachyons [8]) ; Id: <1.5.4.16.20030115105921.391fae70@pop.mindspring.com> ; --------- ; FOTD -- January 15, 2003 (Rating 8) ; ; Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: ; ; Today's image is a lot like yesterday's, though I spent a bit ; more time on it and worked the coloring up to where the image ; earns a somewhat liberal 8. When I was finished, I named the ; image "Nest of Tachyons". Like the name I gave yesterday's ; FOTD, the name of today's image has little to do with the ; image's actual appearance. In fact, certain colorations that I ; tried and then discarded resulted in an image resembling rings ; of shark's teeth. ; ; Tachyons are hypothetical particles that travel faster than ; light. Perhaps it would be best to call such particles ; imaginary, for there is no evidence that they do exist and good ; reasons why they cannot exist. But if such particles did exist, ; they would travel backward in time. They would reach their ; destination before they left their point of departure. ; ; This attribute of tachyons might raise thoughts of backward time ; travel. We might latch on to a tachyon and go back in time to ; warn our earlier selves of all the mistakes we have made. If we ; could go back in time only a few hours, we could give ourselves ; the winning lottery numbers in time to buy a winning ticket. ; It's a good dream, but it will never happen. ; ; The natural world seems to treat backward travel in time as a ; taboo. Every time we discover a way we might do it, we soon ; find a reason why the way we have discovered will not work. No ; matter how clever our schemes, we are frustrated by some ; ineluctable law of nature. ; ; It reminds me of the situation we face with the uncertainty ; principle. If we try to determine both the position and ; momentum of an electron at the same time, we find the task ; impossible. The more accurately we know one, the vaguer the ; other becomes. Something always gets in our way. In this case, ; it is our assumption of the nature of the unmeasured electron ; that has led us to mistakenly look for something that does not ; exist. An electron is a wave of probability, with no definite ; attributes until we pin it down by our measurement. We ; naturally cannot measure what does not exist. I strongly ; suspect that when we contemplate the possibility of backward ; time travel, we make another wrong assumption. We assume time ; itself to be something that it is not. That 'grandfather' ; paradox could be trying to tell us something important. ; ; We often see black holes presented as possible means of time ; travel and faster-than-light travel. The problem with this ; method is that we could not survive the tidal forces as we pass ; the singularity. We also see multiple universes optimistically ; mentioned as a possible means of going backward in time. We ; have dark matter and dark energy which some say could be the ; gravity of these alternate worlds bleeding into our own ; universe. We have a cosmic repulsive force, which is said to ; result from the energy of the vacuum. We have many signs and ; theories that other worlds might exist, but no possible way of ; reaching them. We must face the fact that our one-way trip into ; the future, which actually is time travel, cannot be escaped. ; ; And I must face the fact that I have again wandered from the ; topic of fractals. I can see no way in which fractals could be ; a means of time travel, but stranger things have happened. ; ; With its 5-minute render time, today's image is mercifully fast. ; But even faster is the download from Paul's web site at: ; ; ; ; or from Scott's site at: ; ; ; ; It was quite cold here at Fractal Central Tuesday, remaining ; just below freezing despite the strong sun. At this time of ; year the earth is about as close to the sun as it ever comes, ; yet the temperature is about as cold as it ever gets. Not ; concerned with astronomical trivialities, the dynamic ones ; (cats, that is) remained outside only a few minutes before ; getting their whiskers chilled and retiring indoors to their ; favorite heat sources. ; ; Today is starting cold again, and to make things worse, a fresh ; dusting of snow is on the ground. The fractal cats will not ; want to hear this. As for me, I always take whatever comes. ; (I have no other choice.) Until next time, take care, and never ; forget that we are made of tardyons. ; ; ; Jim Muth ; jamth@mindspring.com ; jimmuth@aol.com ; ; ; START PARAMETER FILE================================ Nest_of_Tachyons { ; time=0:05:43.17--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=recip passes=1 center-mag=-1.36800428773697500/+0.557337704952596\ 80/2.390289e+007/1/-37.5/-6.94211269788858054e-008 params=3.7/-0.85/0.1/-8.5/0/1e+100 float=y maxiter=120 inside=fmod proximity=0.5 periodicity=9 colors=0005zA5zA8zD8zD8zGAzGAzGAzIDzIDzLGzLGzOGzOI\ zOIzQIzQLzTLzTLzTOzWOzWQzYQzYQz_Uz_Uz_UzbWzbWzeWze\ YzgYzg`zg`zj`zjczmczmczoezoezoezrgzrgztjztjzvjzvmz\ vmzymzyozzozzmzzozzozzozzozyozyozyozyozvozvozvozto\ ztoztoztozrozrozrozrozoozoozoozmozmozmozmozjozjozj\ ozjozgozgozgozeozerzerzerzbrzbrzbrz_rz_rz_rz_wzYwz\ YwzYwzYwzWwzWwzWwzTwzTwzTwyTwyQwyQwyQwxQxxOyxOzxOz\ xLzxLzxLzxLzxIzxIzwIzwGzwIzxIzxLzxLzxOzxOyyQxyQwyT\ wyTwyWvzWuzYtzYsz_rzbqz_pz_oz_nz_mz_kz_iz_gz_ez_cz\ _az__zYYwYWwYUuYPuYKrYFpYApY5nY2kY2kY2hW2hW2fW2cW2\ bW2aW2`W2_W2YW2WW2UW2SV2RU2QT2PS2OR2NQ5MP5LO5KN5JM\ 5IL5HK5GJ5FI5EH5DG5CF5BE5AD59C58B57A56A55A54A53A82\ A81A80A80A80A80A80A80A80A80A80A80L80L80L80L80L80L8\ 0L80L80LA0OA0OA0QA0QA0TA0TA0WA0WA0YA0YA3_A8_ABaAGc\ AIeAKgAMiAOkAQmASoAUqAWsAYuA_wAaxAcyAezAgzAizAkzAm\ z8oz0qz0sz0uz0wz2xz2yz5zz } frm:MandelbrotMix4 {; Jim Muth a=real(p1), b=imag(p1), d=real(p2), f=imag(p2), g=1/f, h=1/d, j=1/(f-b), z=(-a*b*g*h)^j, k=real(p3)+1, l=imag(p3)+100, c=fn1(pixel): z=k*((a*(z^b))+(d*(z^f)))+c, |z| < l } ; END PARAMETER FILE================================== ; ;