FOTD -- June 18, 2002 (Rating 6) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: I recently got hooked by one of those science book club offers. This club gives a joining gift of five popular science books at a bargain price in return for the obligation to purchase at least one not-so-popular science book at full price within a year. The books I received are mostly about the effort to apply Quantum Mechanics to the universe at large and find a Theory of Everything. (Via something like those trendy super-strings, I assume.) (I also noticed a recent letter from Osher Doctorow on the Fractint list about the topic.) Finding a T.O.E. is fine, but is the T.O.E. the books tell of really about *everything*? So far, I have had time only to skim the books, but in none of the indexes do I find an entry for mind or consciousness. It is as though the mind that is doing the searching does not exist, or if it does, is not included in the set of everything. Maybe self-awareness is simply too spooky for any respectable scientist to take a serious interest in. Maybe it is so mysterious that serious scientists would never tackle the problem for fear of being labelled soft on mysticism. I also find myself concerned that the theory of everything, when and if it comes and whether or not it includes the mind, will be in the form of mathematics so abstruse that only the initiated will be able to comprehend it. I do not want to settle for a watered-down version in a popularized (simplified) book, which will demand faith in the words I read. I want a theory that I can think about, understand, and connect to the 'real' world. I want to be able to say, 'yes, that explains everything', and observe the proof. (I realize that this will not happen.) A theory, the proof of which can be comprehended only by the high priests of science, would be of no satisfaction at all. In fact, IMO, it would border on mysticism. But then, considering how little of the world of science the common man can actually observe, science has been bordering on mysticism for the past 100 years. I'll have many more thoughts on this topic as I work my way through the five books. And by the way, there is a fractal for today -- another midget. This one is found in a prominent valley of the fractal that results when Z^(-1.54) is added to Z^(-15.4). I named today's picture "Squaring the Circle", and impossibility we learn in high school, and rated it a not-too-bad 6. The render time of 6 minutes is not bad either. For convenience, the completed GIF image is available for download on the W.W.Web at Paul's site: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and at Scott's site: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> Monday's weather here at Fractal Central was near perfect, making for contented cats and a pleased fractalist. The temperature of 82F 28C was made even more comfortable by the dry atmosphere, and best of all, at least 2 more similar days are forecast. The cats will be ecstatic. With a day's work before me, I'm not quite ecstatic, but ecstasy is within my grasp if only I play my cards right. While deciding which card to lead, I'll get a little real work finished. Until next time, which will arrive in about 72 hours, take care, and when the theory of everything appears, be sure it really explains everything, including why we need a theory of everything. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ SquaringTheCircle { ; time=0:06:28.87--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=recip passes=1 center-mag=+2.13533630348576/-0.000841184669495/28\ 39969/1/72.5/-2.86436934102130003e-008 params=1/-1\ .54/1/-15.4/0/525 float=y maxiter=1300 inside=0 logmap=110 colors=000HSEHVGHZIHbKHeMHiOHlQHpSHsUHw\ WHzXLvZPr`SobWkdZgfbdhe`jiYllUnjQhsNrwJtzGvrMsjRpb\ WnV`kNeiFjf8od7j`7fY7bV7YR7UO7QL7LHzzz7DBwmHonJmbK\ jSMhGNf5ObBP_GQWLRTQSPVTM_UIdVFiWBnX8sY5xZAsZEnZIi\ ZMdZQ_ZUVZYQZaLZeGZqGYpHXpHWpHWpHVpHUpHUpHTpHToHSo\ HRomRoHQoHPoHPoHOoHOlJRiKTfLWcMY`N`YPbVQeSRgPSiMTl\ JVnGWqDXsAYv7Zx4_z7Wv9TrCQnENjHKfJHcME_OBWR8ST5OV2\ LU8OTDQTITSNVSSXRX_RaaQfcQkfPphPujSogUidWcbYY__SXa\ MVcGSeAPg5Ni4Rj3Uk2Ym2`n1do0gp0jl6hhBgdGe`LdXQbTVa\ P__LdZHiXDnW9sU5xTEtWMqZVmabjdkfgscjudaweUyfMzgEqb\ IhYM_TQROUJKXLL_NMaPNdROfTPhUQkWRmYSo_TraUtbUvcXuc\ Zuc`tdbtdesdgseirekrenqfpqfrpftpfvpgkcgaRgSEdUJaVO\ _WSXXXVYaSZeQ_jN`oLasS_nZZie_dl`_saVpbWmcWjdWgeWdf\ WagWahWciWejWgkWilWkmWmnWooWqpWsqWurewsozukzwhzxez\ ybzzZzzWzzTzzQzzMzzJzzGzzDzz9zz6zz3zz0zz5zzAzzFzzK\ zzPzzUzzYzzXzzWzzVzzUzzTzzSzzRzzAzzC } 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==================================