Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts:

I gave today's extreme-magnitude image no rating.  How could I rate it when I'm not even sure it's real?  Oh, the image itself is real enough, but is it an actual fractal or just an artifact of mathematical imprecision?

In the end, it doesn't really matter whether the image is real or an artifact.  If it's an artifact, it's a real artifact, and with its ever-increasing series of rings, it makes a rather interesting figure.

The image is located inside the usually-empty bay of a minibrot in the Seahorse Valley area of the Mandelbrot set.  Those who doubt this may back out of the scene and prepare for a surprise.

The name "Questioned Reality" refers to the questionable reality of the entire image, and also to the questionable reality of what we call the 'real' world. 

On Saturday evening, FL and I settled down to watch a so-called 'scientific' show about the human brain, which appeared on one of the cable channels.  The advanced hype claimed the show would explain how something as yucky as the pound or two of meat we call the human brain could create something as different and as creative as the conscious human mind with all its intelligence and other faculties.

Having been disappointed so many times in the past by such shows and books, I did not really expect much of a revelation, so when the show began, I was not disappointed when the first half hour described the training regimen of the elite corps of Navy Seals, and how the brain reacts to the tests.  When the next segment started describing how the brain creates the sex drive, FL got up to leave and I switched off the TV.  Once again, science had shown that it has no hint of how the unconscious meat of the brain might create the individual unique streams of self-awareness we call ourselves.

The puzzling point is how so many of the scientific 'faithful', especially 'born-again' skeptics such as Atheists and Rationalists, fail to see the absurdity of it all, and cling to their materialistic beliefs as zealously as a born-again Christian clings to his belief in his salvation.

The scientific assumption is that self-awareness is an emergent phenomenon of the healthy brain.  The brain is assumed to generate self-awareness in much the same manner as a dynamo generates electricity.  The problem is that we know where the electricity comes from, while we have no idea where consciousness might come from.

Electricity is generated because, beneath the surface, matter is electrical in nature.  But if we assume that matter has an underlying degree of consciousness, which is then focused by the brain, we must then admit that behind the scenes the entire physical material universe has a certain level of consciousness, a materialistic heresy.  At the same time, if we assume that matter is totally unconscious, then we must admit that the brain produces something from nothing -- in other words, magic, a scientific heresy.

I'll have more to say about this quandary in future FOTD discussions.

Heavy clouds and continued intermittent light rain prevailed again here at Fractal central on Tuesday.  The fractal cats kept dry indoors, but wished the outdoor temperature could have gone above the actual high of 63F 17C.

The humans kept busy doing other things.  The next FOTD will be posted in 24 hours.  Until then, take care, and does it take a brain to make a mind or a mind to make a brain make a mind?

Jim Muth
jamth@mindspring.com


START PARAMETER FILE=======================================

Questioned_Reality { ; time=0:05:47.01-SF5 on P4-2000
  reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=basicer.frm
  formulaname=HyperMandelbrot2 passes=1
  center-mag=-0.75836030827917080/+0.076845311784048\
  33/1.790637e+013/1/-56/0 params=0/0/0/0/0.77/0/\
  1e-100/0 float=y maxiter=1600 periodicity=0
  inside=0 logmap=1008 mathtolerance=0.05/1
  colors=000B48C37C36D35D24E23E22E21K89JHHIQPHZXGZdF\
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  QIbUJ`XKZ_LXbMVfet7mw7UW8 }

frm:HyperMandelbrot2 {; periodicity must be turned off
a=(p1),b=(p2):
q=sqr(a)-sqr(b)+pixel,
b=(p3+2)*a*b+p4,
a=q,
|a|+|b| <= 100 }

END PARAMETER FILE=========================================