; Date: Fri, 08 May 2009 19:06:11 -0400 ; ; To: fractint@mailman.xmission.com ; ; From: Jim Muth ; Reply-To: Fractint and General Fractals Discussion ; ; ; Subject: [Fractint] FOTD 09-05-09 (Prime-Cut Fractal [7]) ; ; Id: <1.5.4.16.20090508190705.2fdf6144@pop.mindspring.com> ; --------- ; ; FOTD -- May 09, 2009 (Rating 7) ; ; Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: ; ; Today's image shows a Z^11+C minibrot gone crazy. The parent ; fractal is a grossly inflated Mandelbrot set that is quadratic ; only on the surface. Once we dive any depth into it, the M-set ; takes on Z^11 characteristics. Today's image is located in the ; East Valley area of a tiny minibrot just beyond the spike of the ; large minibrot on the main spike of the parent almost-Mandelbrot ; set. ; ; I chose the image to be FOTD for May 9 because it is one of the ; most decorative higher-order minibrots I have ever stumbled ; upon. The name "Prime-Cut Fractal" means little beyond its ; sound. The rating of a 7 is just about FOTD average. The calcu- ; lation time of 10-1/4 minutes is slower than FOTD average, but ; may be avoided by viewing the finished image on the FOTD web ; site at: ; ; ; ; In yesterday's discussion I told of a book-club offering of a ; book about the imminent collapse of civilization due to climate ; change (AKA global warming). Since then I have checked more of ; the books being offered. I found one about 'the myth of the ; self'. ; ; According to the author of this book, there is no such thing as ; 'the self'. What we perceive as the conscious 'self' is the ; content of a sophisticated model of reality generated by our ; brains. Whenever our brains successfully pursue the strategy of ; creating a unified and dynamic inner portrait of reality, we ; become conscious. In a sense, conscious experience is a form of ; virtual reality, a real-time world-model that can be viewed as a ; permanent simulation. (A lot of fancy words indeed!) ; ; It's probably an interesting book, but I'll not order it. The ; author has apparently not bridged the gap between neurons and ; consciousness. I wonder what the non-existent but always-the- ; same thing is supposed to be, which he claims appears from ; nowhere to become our illusory selves when our brains begin ; 'creating a unified and dynamic inner portrait of reality', ; whatever that means. ; ; Also, if conscious experience is a form of virtual reality and ; the world we appear to experience around us is a permanent simu- ; lation, as the author apparently supposes, then the brain that ; he claims creates the simulation must itself be a part of the ; simulation. ; ; I see circular reasoning once again taking the place of true ; critical thinking. One of these years someone might actually ; bridge the gap between brain and mind, if one actually exists, ; but it will not be in the year 2009. ; ; I have been reading books attempting to explain self-awareness ; for many years, and in that time I have seen the explanations ; grow ever more preposterous and unconvincing. The only thing I ; have become convinced of is that our science is missing some- ; thing of monumental importance, most likely non-physical, though ; not necessarily the teachings of any one religion. ; ; A mixture of clouds and sun here at Fractal Central on Friday, ; and a temperature of 77F 25C were enough to keep the fractal ; cats' crankiness under control. Light rain in the evening ; caused no problems, while less work than expected kept me under ; control. ; ; If all stays under control, the next FOTD will be posted in 24 ; hours. Until then, take care, and after all these years, our ; greatest thinkers can't even tell us what we are. It's almost ; unbelievable ; ; ; Jim Muth ; jamth@mindspring.com ; jimmuth@aol.com ; ; ; START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Prime-Cut_Fractal { ; time=0:10:14.53-SF5 on P4-2000 reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=basic.frm formulaname=NewDivideBrot function=recip passes=1 center-mag=-178.5721094725071/-0.0000781075421812/\ 8.837183e+010/1/-62.4/0 params=11/100 float=y maxiter=3200 inside=0 logmap=550 periodicity=10 mathtolerance=0.05/1 colors=000hHKhHKhIKhIKhIKhIKhHKhHKhHKhGKhEKhCKhBFh\ 9Ai76k54k87kBAkEEkHHkKLkNOkQSkUVkXYk_akbdkehkhkkko\ knrM_ZJ_ZFZZBZZ7YYD_YF`WHaVKbTMdRKdPHdNEdLBcJJbLRa\ NZ`Pf_RnZTwXVw_TvbQueOthLskJsnGrqEqtBpw9oz6eg5WP4M\ 53N58O6EP6JQ7PR8VS8_T9eU9jVApXBvXFsXJoXNkXShXWdX_`\ WdXXhSZlM`pGbtAdx4dx6cx8cwAbwCavEavH`uJ_uL_tNZtPYs\ SMsWAr_AoZAlXBiVBfTCcRC_PCXNDULDRJEOHELFFHDHJFKLIN\ NLQPNTSQWUTYWV`YYc``fbbi`elXhoTkrQgqJco5_o6bo7`o8Y\ n9WnATnBRmCOmDMmEJlFHlGElHCkJ9kPHaVES`CHg9N_ITSRZJ\ _dBhj2qg5nd9kaDhZHdWLaTPZQSVNWSK_PHcLEgIBkF7oBEbFM\ QJUDNa0Sb0Sc0Se0Rf0Rh1QiBPjMOkXclgcmrckpcinagl_eiY\ cgWaeU_cSY`QWZOUXMSVKQSIOQGMOELMEKJDKGKKCLS8NY40YM\ ReUctzgrlfo_emSdjKchCbe3`eA_eFYeKWeOUdQSdSQdUPdWNc\ YLc_JcaHccFbdD_eDWfCTcCPhBMiAIjAFk9Bl8Fm8Kn7Po6Up7\ Xq9_rBbsDetFhuHkvInwKqxMtyOwzQzzSzzUzzUzzUzzUzzVzz\ VzzVzzVzzWzzWzzWzzWzzXzzX } frm:NewDivideBrot { ; Jim Muth z=(0,0), c=pixel, a=-(real(p1)-2), b=imag(p1)+0.00000000000000000001: z=z^2*fn1(z^(a)+b)+c |z| < 1000000 } ; END PARAMETER FILE========================================= ; ; ; ; _______________________________________________ ; Fractint mailing list ; Fractint@mailman.xmission.com ; http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractint