; Date: Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:25:04 -0400 ; ; To: fractint@mailman.xmission.com ; cc: philofractal@lists.fractalus.com ; ; From: Jim Muth ; Reply-To: Fractint and General Fractals Discussion ; ; ; Subject: [Fractint] FOTD 02-06-08 (Eight Hooting Owls [8]) ; ; Id: <1.5.4.16.20080601222452.2b9fd79a@pop.mindspring.com> ; --------- ; ; FOTD -- June 02, 2008 (Rating 8) ; ; Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: ; ; Warning! Expect no answers in this discussion, only questions. ; ; There is a second fractal 'artist' here at F.C., one known as ; F.L., who usually prefers to lurk invisibly in the background, ; but sometimes says things that start an all-day line of thought ; going in my head. On Sunday she happened to catch a glance of ; today's image, and asked "why do the numbers you picked make a ; fractal that looks like a circle of eight owl's faces and not ; something like an icy tree?" ; ; I replied, "for the same reason that one plus one equals two and ; not three." But this is no answer at all. One plus one equals ; two because that's the way it is and it couldn't possibly be any ; other way. (I think it took B. Russell about 50 pages to prove ; that one plus one equals two, shortly before the whole point of ; his immense work was disproved by Godel.) ; ; But it's far different to state that one plus one must equal two ; than to state that today's fractal parameters must always equal ; a circle of eight figures vaguely resembling owl's faces. The ; first fact is intuitively obvious, the second must be accepted ; on the faith that the computer's fractal math routine calculates ; unambiguous truth. (Something I am not at all certain of.) ; ; During my no-longer-short life, I have 'wasted' countless hours ; trying to visualize the fourth dimension, and just as many hours ; wondering about things such as why I was born at a certain time ; to live a life as a U.S. citizen, and not 800 years ago to live ; a life as a nomad in Outer Mongolia or even as a deer to be ; devoured by a lion in central Africa. I also find it quite ; incredible that the universe should at this very moment be in ; the infinitesimal slice of time in which I will exist to observe ; and wonder about it. ; ; It must be true that a fool such as I can invent more questions ; than a wise man can answer. ; ; But this is not all. In addition, I have recently concluded ; that the perception of an outer universe (reality if you will) ; of three spatial dimensions is a function of the level of ; consciousness of humanity. ; ; As to why I am the person I am, and why the universe is in the ; infinitesimal period of time in which I will exist, it seems to ; be a matter of definition. How could it be any other way? ; ; Such an answer does not totally satisfy however. After all, ; does not the universe obey the mathematical laws of an objective ; three-dimensional space? ; ; But mathematics is a human invention, developed to be a symbolic ; statement of abstract human thought processes. Man certainly ; would never have developed a math that would be valid only in a ; perceived universe of four spatial dimensions. I now wonder ; whether our mathematics describes an objective reality at all, ; or if we intentionally designed and tweaked it to work with a ; three-dimensional space that we mentally create around us. ; ; The question of why the universe is in the tiny slice of time in ; which I exist might be a wrong question based on a wrong percep- ; tion. Relativity shows that there is no universal time which is ; true throughout the vast expanse of space. Each individual ; exists in his own unique present moment. We need to somehow re- ; phrase the question. ; ; I suspect that the question of why I am myself is also a wrong ; question, based on another misperception. ; ; So now, instead of searching for the correct answers, I find ; myself still searching for the proper questions. Perhaps it's ; time to turn to fractals. ; ; Today's image is named "Eight Hooting Owls" because that's what ; F.L. saw when she caught sight of it. It rates an 8 because I ; think it's a rather good image. ; ; The parent fractal is the same one that produced yesterday's ; image. But instead of lying at the edge of the fan, today's ; image lies almost at the dead center of the fan. ; ; The calculation time of 1-1/2 minutes is logical and provable. ; Just as logically provable is the fact that the image will soon ; be posted for viewing on the FOTD web site at: ; ; ; ; Near perfect conditions prevailed here at Fractal Central on ; Sunday, with low humidity, lots of sunshine, gentle winds, ; puffy cumulus clouds, and a temperature of 79F 26C 299K 21R. ; The fractal cats, unconcerned about which temperature scale to ; use, (Celsius is probably the best), found their comfort in the ; sunniest window. ; ; My day was pleasant enough, though thanks to F.L., the nagging ; and unanswered questions simply would not go away. But despite ; this, the next FOTD will be posted in 24 hours. Until then, ; take care, and there must be aleph^(aleph) questions that never ; have been and never will be asked, much less answered. ; ; ; Jim Muth ; jamth@mindspring.com ; jimmuth@aol.com ; ; ; START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Eight_Hooting_Owls { ; time=0:01:28.38-SF5 on P4-2000 reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandAutoCritInZ function=recip passes=1 center-mag=+3.400279501439892/+0.0000082660249179/\ 3.599998e+010/1/-39/0 params=-11/-1.1/-1/-11/0/\ 525/0/0 float=y maxiter=1750 inside=0 logmap=165 periodicity=10 colors=0000Ob0Xe0zi0bm0zp0ig0kZ0dR0\ XI0TA2I0460820000T00b00z00z20z0Ma0xi0thErbTniimTxi\ zzgMzeozdGzdCzdAzd6xd4rd0md0gd0bd0Xd0Rd6IrM8z`0zX8\ zVEzTMzRRzOXvMdrKinInkGngGneGndEn`EnZELXEnTCnRCnPC\ QMCnKAnIAnEALCAVACQAEVAEVAGV8IV8KV8KV8MV8OV8PV8RV8\ TV8VV8XV8Zi8`i8zrvzptzprzppzpnzpmznkxnivngvnetndrn\ brm`pmZpmXnmVrtOvzGzz8zzAzzCzzEzzGzzGzzIzzKzzMzzOz\ zOzzPzvRzmTzgVzbVz`RzZOzZKzXGzXCxV8tV4pT0kT0gR0dR0\ gK0kE0m86p2Cr0Iv0Ox0Rz0`zCgzOnz`xzmzzxzzzzzzzzzttz\ nnzigzdbzZXzTRzOMzIEzC8z62z00z00z00z00z00z40tE0kO0\ bX0Ve0Mn0Cx04z08z0Az0Cz0Ex0Gv0It0Kr0Mp0On4Pm6RkK`m\ Ximgrntznbzpzxpxinz`2zb8zdEzeKxgOviTviZtkdrmgpnmnp\ rnpxmrzktzivzgxzgxzZzzRznIzZAzI0z00z00z04z0Az4GzAM\ zGRzMXzRbzXgzbmzgrzmkzkdziXzibzeezbkz`nzXtzVxzRzzO\ zzMzzIzzGrzdVzzRzxPzxMzxKzvGzvEzvAzt8zt4zt2zr0zr0z\ r0zp0zp0zp0zp0zn0zm0zk0zi0zg0ze0ze0zd0zb } frm:MandAutoCritInZ {; 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)+(p4)), 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========================================= ; ; ; _______________________________________________ ; Fractint mailing list ; Fractint@mailman.xmission.com ; http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractint