FOTD -- October 06, 2007 (Rating 8) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: The fractal part of today's discussion will be a bit short. I found a magazine article this afternoon that got my philosophi- cal juices flowing, and I decided to say my piece at the end of today's fractal discussion. Those who are bored by philosophy should stop reading at the FOTD web-site address. Today's image is from the same parent that gave us the past two days images. Today I checked the right edge of the parent circle, not far from the X-axis. After a rather difficult search, I found a tiny, well-hidden minibrot, which appears at the center of today's image. When calculating the fractal, I used only the default coloring method, with the outside set to equal-iteration bands. The entire color effect was achieved with the Fractint <C> coloring screen. After very little pondering, I named the image "Iteration Essence". It makes little sense, but then neither does modern physics. Since I think the image is notably above average, I rated it at an 8. The calculation time is only 44 seconds. Even on a slow old war- horse unit the image finishes in 4 minutes. But the best way of all to enjoy the image is to go to the FOTD web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and see it there, already calculated. On the philosophical side, I happened to glance at a copy of 'Scientific American' magazine this afternoon, and found yet another article speculating on how the neurons of the brain produce self-awareness. I merely skimmed the article, but its point appeared to be the same as all the mechanism-of-self- awareness articles I have read. Researchers are still debating how the electrochemical activity of neurons produces consciousness, but there are lots of pretty pictures of brain activity in the article, and some unconvincing hypotheses. Despite the mystery, the researchers claim they are making progress toward a better understanding of the biological and neurological processes involved. When will these 'scientists' get the point? The answer has been staring them in the face for decades. Neurobiology seems stuck in a century-old world view. If something is coming out of some- thing, something must be going in. Even a successfully reproduc- ing species of artificially intelligent computers would need the input of human intelligence to get its ancestors started. The neurons of our brains must have some input, as yet unknown to science, and change it into intelligent self-awareness in much the same manner as the circuits of a television receiver change the incoming encoded electromagnetic energy into the out- put that we see as an intelligent program. How futile it would be to study the activity of the circuitry inside a television receiver for the source of the intelligent program, while being unaware of the electromagnetic input. Enough philosophy. Friday turned out to be another midsummer day in mid-autumn here at Fractal Central, with a temperature of 86F 30C, hot sun and high humidity. The fractal cats again spent the day stretched out under the air-conditioner. My day was satisfactorily busy, the way I wish every day could be. The next FOTD fractal will be posted in 24 hours. Until then, take care, and don't think about thought too much. It's a circular path of pseudo-logic that goes nowhere. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Iteration_Essence { ; time=0:00:44.34-SF5 on P4-2000 reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandAutoCritInZ function=recip passes=1 center-mag=+4.998518795515808/+0.0006317113811069/\ 2.524967e+009/1/114/0 params=1.1/2/1e-030/-99/0/0/\ 0/0 float=y maxiter=1000 inside=0 logmap=76 periodicity=10 mathtolerance=0.05/1 colors=000u0MK3FyYDuXCqVBlTAhR9dP8_N7WK6SH5ND4JA3F\ 72941420zzhvubrpXnkRjhLfeFba8ZY7VT6RO5NJ4KF4GA3C52\ 8113U0ze52m3zm1RcczWWGOOAGG5z87zZ5zTzmN3LH2EB175`m\ zYhzWczUZzRWzPTpNQcKOUILRGIODGKBDH9AD68A4562234ja3\ gZ3dX3aU3ZS2WQ2TN2QL2NJ1KG1HE1EB1B90870540224sO3mL\ 3hJ2cH2ZF2UD1PA1K8s06u03p32k52f72a91YB1TD1OF0JH0FJ\ 0HM5JO9LRDNTHPWLRYPT`UVbYXeaZge`jiblmdhjeegfbdgZbi\ W_jTXkPVlMSnJPoFNpCKq9Hr6FmBHiFIeKJaOLXTMTXNP`PLeQ\ GiRCnT8rU4vV7sX9pZBm_EjaGgcIddLafNZhPXiOZeO_bNaZNb\ WMdSMePLgLLhIKjEKkBKl8MjAOiBQhDSgETfFUcHVeJWgLWiNX\ kPYmRYoSZqU_rW_sY`t_auaavbYwZ0x2VyWzzTzzQzzMzzJzzG\ zzDzz9zz6zz3zzDzz6zzFzzCzz9zz6zz33zz2zz2zz1zz1zz1z\ z0zz0zzxzzqzzkzzezz_zzUzzOzzIzzCzz6zzMzzazzVzzPzzJ\ zzCzz6zz7zz6zz5zz5zz4zz4zz3zz2zz2zz1zz1zz0zzvzzqzz\ lzzhzzczz_zzVzzRzzMzzIzzDzz9zz4zzfzzbzz_zzXzzUzzRz\ zOzzLzzIzzFzzCzz9zz6zz3zz } frm:MandAutoCritInZ {; 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)+(p4)), k=real(p3)+1, l=imag(p3)+100, c=fn1(pixel): z=k*((a*(z^b))+(d*(z^f)))+c, |z| < l } END PARAMETER FILE=========================================