FOTD -- October 28, 2002 (Rating 4) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: In a recent FOTD I speculated about a "Theory of 'Everything'". The next day I received a private e-mail directing me to a web site, where an article about theories of everything is posted. (The article is posted as a graphic image rather than text, so it took a long time to download.) Basically, it is an article about multi-worlds theories. The problem is that the conditions making self-aware life possible in our world are so unlikely that it is almost impossible for them to have arisen by chance. One way out of the dilemma is to theorize a creator or a 'God' who intentionally designed and fine-tuned the world so that life could arise and thrive in it. But this is not really a way out at all, because we immediately ask how the 'God' came to be. Another answer is to posit the existence of a near infinity of equally real worlds. Every world that could possibly exist, act- ually does exist. It is then no surprise that we find ourselves in a world where life is possible. How could it be otherwise? But even here there are problems. Can a world actually be said to exist if it contains no self-aware observers to be aware of it? The realization of the possibility of observer-created reality is nothing new. And if the observation creates the reality, what of the worlds I and most others observe in our dreams, especially our lucid dreams? While we are dreaming, these worlds can be as real and solid to us as the physical world is when we are awake. I doubt that a scientist who wants to be taken seriously would claim that dreams are real adventures in other real worlds. But where is the difference? If we claim that dream worlds are really only brain activity, we must then answer the question of what the physical world processes such as atoms, the universe, and brain activity really are. We need a theory of everything to completely explain anything. In the end, having gone in a circle, we are right back where we started. The final 'theory of everything' would appear to be a long way off. I see that my discussion has wandered rather far from the topic. No harm has been done, however, for today's fractal is sub-par, and I needed a distraction from its deficiency. (On some days, you just can't find a good fractal.) Today's image adds Z^10 to Z, then adds just plain C. The resulting parent fractal is a nondescript circle with 9 bays. Most bays are non-critical, and hold little of interest, but a small critical area does appear on the WNW shoreline. This small area is full of holes however. It is so filled with holes that it actually appears moth-eaten. Today's midget, which lies in a spurious valley where two arms intersect, is equally moth-eaten. And that is the name I gave to it. In an attempt to pump a bit of life into the image, I rendered it with the outside set to < tdis >. This option helps a little, but not much. It raised the rating from 3 to 4. The render time of 17 minutes, even with passes=t, is no help at all. Few will be willing to wait that long to see an inferior image. But most, I hope, will give Paul and Scott a few minutes to render the image, and then go to their FOTD web pages at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> and download the completed GIF image from there. The Sunday weather here at Fractal Central was all one could ask for. The sun shone, the sky was blue, and the temperature was 66F 19C. The fractal cats approved heartily by spending several midday hours in the yard, doing nothing much but watching the surrounding activity. At one time, a stray cat appeared in the bushes. The dynamic duo leaped up and were ready for a fight, but the stray wisely moved on. Today, Monday, is starting with clouds and sprinkles of rain. The cats will be complaining about that. And I'll be complain- ing until the work is finished, (but not very loudly). Until tomorrow's FOTD, take care, and perhaps nothing but fractals are real. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Moth-Eaten_Midget { ; time=0:17:06.06--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=ident passes=t center-mag=-0.06995406148780703/+0.081330562392528\ 81/7770587/1/160/-1.97983129196499519e-009 params=-1/1/-1/10/0/0 float=y maxiter=1200 inside=255 outside=tdis periodicity=10 sound=off colors=000hTbiUejWhkXklYnm_qn`toawpbzmcwjdtgeqdena\ fkZghWgeThbQi_NjXKjUHkRElOClMLfMUaMaXMjSMrNMpPMnQM\ mRMkTMiUMhVMfWMdYMcZMa_M_aMZbMXcMWdMUcPSbSRbUPaXOa\ ZM`aK_dJ_fHZiGZkEYnCXqBXs9Wv8WxOVvbUtqUsrNusHvtBxu\ 5yq7tn8pjAlgBhdCdeBfeBgeAieAjf9lf9mf8of8pf7rg7sg6u\ g6vg5xg5yh8wiBujEskGqlJomMmmOknRioUgpXeqZcraasd_sf\ YpeXmdWkcWhbVebVcaU``UY_TW_TUZUTZURZUQZUOZUNYVLYVK\ YVIYVHYVFXWEXWCXWBXWAXWLccVijdpqnvxluwjuwhuwftwdtw\ ctwasw_swYswWrwUrwTrw_kufdtlZrsSqyMpvNosNopNonNnkN\ nhNnfOmcOm`OmZOlWOlTOlROlTNiUMfVMcWL`XLZWMVVMSVNOU\ NLTNHTOESOASO7UPBWPFYPI_PMaPQcPTePXgP`iPckPgmPkoPn\ ZHjIAf23c58e8CgBGiELkHPmJToMXqPasSeuViwXmyVnvUnsTn\ pSnmRnjQngOodNoaMoZLoWKoTJoQMlSPiTSfUUcWX`X_YYaVZ`\ YY``Y`cY_eY_hY_kY_mYbi`eebhadkYgmUipQksMnvIpxFrxGo\ xHlxIixIfxJcxK`xLYxLVxMSxNPxOMxOKwQMvROuSPtTRtVTsW\ UrXWqYYpZZp``oabnbcmceK0P } 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 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE==================================