

Geeky Math Equation Creates Beautiful 3-D World - Evgeny
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/12/mandelbulb-gallery/all/1

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StrawberryFrog
_Geeky_ may be a redundant word there - How many world-creating math equations
are there that _aren't_ geeky?

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wendroid
Not only that but it is demeaning.

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forensic
I'm a computer nerd, so I don't say this often:

These pictures are breathtaking. They remind me of gothic cathedrals, but more
stimulating, deeper, and even more beautiful. Knowing they are mathematically
generated gives me a feeling not unlike ecstasy.

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RevRal
The response I'm accustomed to seeing, when people are introduced to these
such things, is normally closer to horror.

What was your first reaction to seeing the Mandelbrot? Seeing this "geek
world" induces a similar, though less severe, dread for me.

~~~
aerique
It's been a very long time ago since I first saw a mandelbrot but it must've
been something like "cool / whatever" and only after learning more about it I
started to appreciate it.

Seeing the Mandelbulb pages a couple of months ago through HN I was really in
awe and also found it very inspiring since it pertains to some of my pet
projects.

Is it possible for you to explain why it induces you with dread? I really
can't understand that.

~~~
RevRal
I never thought I'd feel compelled to write a poem on HN:

    
    
      There is this incredibly slow machine, 
      analyzing everything relevant in these passing things... 
      arms moving and seeing.
      Seeing and slightly clutching some very few things with beings. 
      Every instant, a thing goes dimmer, 
      until slowly few remain. 
      These are the harvest of this incredibly slow machine.
    

I see the Mandelbrot as a surface on a much larger surface, and that surface
on an even larger surface (and so on). It is an infinity that I cannot begin
to comprehend, and at the end of it all... the best phrase I can think of to
describe "the whole" is: _an incredible slow machine._

The Madelbrot is a virtualization and a sterilization -- it's a glimpse of
something much grander, and that grander thing, that I called the incredible
slow machine, permeates into reality and appears to determine the outcome of
everything. Its arms stretch and grasp every little detail of every universe
and we can see the evidence of its existence in the ferns as well as the
galaxies.

A hugeness that seems indifferent to our presence.

Is it possible that our universe is much like the Mandelbrot set? That an
infinite number of slight variations and radical variations of universes
exist?

From the very bottom, the numbers are calculated and fed back into the
equation. The result is that we're an extension of a fractal finger. On an arm
of the machine. An arm on an arm on an arm on an arm....

\----

Addendum: I'm still not satisfied with my answer for you, but I'm sure you can
at least sense the unease some might feel. I can actually go on all day about
this, and I would have to if I wanted to make any sense. So I have to stop
myself because such energy needs to go into my writing.

These days I'm pretty immune to existential dread. There was a long stretch of
my life where I could not stop poking at this stuff. And, frankly, I think
I've emerged slightly insane. It's part of the reason I stopped studying math;
it got too much for me, and I've shifted my focus onto writing.

Heh, but if you're a fan of GEB you know that you cant completely escape. That
the strangeness still exists in writing.

~~~
aerique
Thanks for the expansive answer. I think I understand the feeling of dread you
were talking about now. I get it when trying to comprehend the universe even
though I'm aware of the scientific theories about it I can't help but let my
mind wander about how big it is or what it really means for it to be infinite
and if it weren't infinite what would it be _in_ and what would be beyond it,
etc. etc. Those little meanderings haven't really changed since I was 8 or so
and I'm now 35 and I can just touch what it would be like to be insane when
going long and deep enough.

A healthy dose of psilocybin mushrooms is what Bill Hicks recommended. (and so
do I!)

Also, while I have read GEB since it's sort of required reading, I'm not
really a fan of it. This is probably heresy here on HN but like all other of
Hofstadter's books I can't stand his huff-puffery about himself and really it
distracts from the interesting content in his books. I'm sure he's a nice guy
and brilliant mind and it's most certainly a character flaw of mine but his
writing style just doesn't click with me. I've tried multiple times to put it
past me but have been unsuccessful so far.

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jacquesm
This was posted 3 times in the last 30 days.

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Evgeny
I did the search, I swear ...
[http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=ge...](http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=geeky+math+equation+site%3Anews.ycombinator.com&meta=&aq=f&oq=)

~~~
ars
Dedicated Hacker News search engine: <http://searchyc.com/> works much better
than google for this site.

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bitwize
It makes me hungry for fractal broccoli...

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanesco_broccoli>

