; Date: Sun, 02 Feb 2003 11:34:19 -0500 ; From: Jim Muth ; Subject: [Fractint] FOTD 02-02-03 (Spots Before the Eyes [5]) ; Id: <1.5.4.16.20030202113721.0d574192@pop.mindspring.com> ; --------- ; FOTD -- February 02, 2003 (Rating 5) ; ; Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: ; ; I'm depressed today. As soon as I posted yesterday's FOTD, I ; turned on the radio and heard the bad news. This latest space ; disaster has me down. As the difficulties in the foundering ; U.S. space program continue to add up, it is becoming ever more ; apparent that neither I nor anyone else will live to see ; humanity reach the stars. It is almost as apparent to all but ; dreamers that humanity will *never* reach the stars. ; ; I am not shocked. I never expected to see men actually ; traveling to other solar systems in my lifetime, but back in the ; 60's, when I was young and enthusiastic, (i.e. a dreamer), I ; expected to see, before I left this world, men (and women) ; regularly traveling to Mars, and humanity actually colonizing ; the moon. ; ; Now I realize that I shall never see men on Mars, and unless a ; miracle happens, that I shall never see men even on the moon. ; In fact, I'll consider myself lucky if I live to see the earth- ; orbiting space station completed and in full operation. As I ; have realized for the past 15 years or so, earth's resources are ; limited. The planet simply has too few resources to support ; both an out-of-control population explosion and a workable space ; program. We didn't even have the resources to build the super- ; conducting-supercollider down here on earth. ; ; The problem lies in our very nature. We are totally dependent ; on the environment of earth's biosphere for our continued ; existence. To venture into space, we will always need to take a ; bit of that environment with us. And we have underestimated the ; magnitude of the task of maintaining that environment. We have ; put too much faith in the ability of technology to overcome our ; natural biological limitations. ; ; The only way humanity could ever reach deep space would be to ; find a way to change its nature. We would need to find a way to ; transfer our awareness, complete with senses, to some kind of ; artificially self-aware machines, (is artificial self-awareness ; an oxymoron?), and travel to the stars as robust androids with ; replaceable parts and unlimited life expectancies. But this is ; pure fantasy. Before it could be done, or even considered, we ; must determine what a self-awareness is and how it might be ; transferred. ; ; Since this appears to be impossible, perhaps even foolish to ; consider, the presence of humanity in deep space appears to be ; unachievable, and no amount of science and technology can change ; that. ; ; One good feature about exploring the fractal world is that it ; consumes very little of earth's limited resources. Today's ; image is part of the fractal that comes into being when three ; parts of Z^(-15) are subtracted from three parts of Z^(-1.5) and ; 1/C is added. ; ; It is another of my 'evaporated' images, this time brought to ; life by the bof60 inside fill. I named the image "Spots Before ; the Eyes". One glance will reveal why. If my mood had been ; brighter, I might have rated it a bit higher than the rating of ; an average 5. The render time of 16 minutes is trying, but may ; be overcome by downloading the completed GIF image from: ; ; ; ; or from: ; ; ; ; The weather was unpleasant here at Fractal Central on Saturday. ; The sky was too cloudy, too many sprinkles of rain fell, the air ; was too damp, the wind was too raw, and the temperature of 36F ; 2C was too chilly. As a result, the fractal cats were too ; testy, and a spat broke out between them when both Thomas and ; Tippy wanted the same spot by the heat. But the quarrel soon ; ended, and the duo finished the day with a conciliatory treat of ; tuna. Today is starting the same as yesterday. Hopefully, the ; cats' mood will not be as sour. ; ; Until next FOTD, take care, and those stars keep getting farther ; away, don't they? ; ; ; Jim Muth ; jamth@mindspring.com ; jimmuth@aol.com ; ; ; START PARAMETER FILE================================ SpotsBeforeTheEyes { ; time=0:16:39.60--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=recip passes=1 center-mag=-1.28158038164121200/+0.099152116886171\ 08/17371.64/1/97.5/3.0669491252188763e-010 params=3/-1.5/-3/-15/0/1e+100 float=y maxiter=1200 inside=bof60 logmap=yes periodicity=250 colors=000htYfsYdrZbqZ`pXZoYXnZVmZTl_Rk_Pj`NibLh`K\ fZJdXIaVH_TGYREWPDTNCRLBPJAMH9KF7ID6GB5D94B7395161\ 27427637837A47D47F58H58J68M68O78L78N78P9AOBBPDDPEE\ PGFPHGPIHRJIQKJRLKOMJQMKQMKPMKQMKQZVS_WSaYScZSecNd\ _SdXWcT`cQdcNibJmbGrY4x`9wbDvdHufQuhTtjYslasnfrpjq\ rnptqpvroxvnzznwxmuvmsumqsmnqmlpmjnlhlleklcilagl_f\ lXdkVbkTakR_kOYkMXkKVjITjFSjDQjBOj9NjCMfFLcIK`LJXO\ JURIRUHNXGK_GHbFDeEAhD7mC1kD3jD4iD5hE6gE7fE8eE9dFA\ cFBbFCaFD`GE_GFZGGYGHXHIWHJVHKUILTIMSINRIOQJPPJQOJ\ RNJSMKTLKUKKVKMVJLWJKWIKXIJXHJYHIYHIZGHZGG_FG_FF`E\ F`EEaEEaHD`JD_LCZOCYQBXSBWVAVXAUZ9T`9Sc8Re8Qg7Pj7O\ l6Nn6Ms4Lp6Mm7Mk8NhANfBOcCOaEPZFPXGQUHQSJRPKRNLSKN\ SIOTFPT4UT9STDQTIPTMNTRLTVKTZITcGTgFTlDTpBTt6St8Tt\ ATtCTtETtGTtITtKTtMTtOTtQTtSTtUTtVTtXUtZUt`UtbUtdU\ tfUthUtjUtlUtnUtpUtrUtsUmtXgtZ`t`SzhUweVtbXr_YoX_l\ U`jRbgOceLdfMefMefMffMgfM } 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================================== ; ;