Fractal: In Honor of Defying Gravity

I have to admit that I mostly watched this strange "Grey's Anatomy in Space", because its title caught my attention. Apparently it premiered at the beginning of August...but I never had a chance to watch it until last night. I was admittedly saddened that there were no references to the song with which it shares its name. (Not that I really thought there would be...I just love Wicked...so it would have been nice!) :)

Anyway...back to the point of this post. It was announced today that Defying Gravity has been canceled! I would say that I don't care, since the show was pretty much a lame soap opera that occurs in space....except I loved the very end of last night's episode!

I tried (unsuccessfully) to locate a video clip,and my explanation would never do it justice. So I'll just say that the astronauts found BETA. And though we (the viewers) are not allowed the full vantage point of the astronauts, we are permitted a small glimpse. This snapshot reveals a beautiful fractal tomato garden with whale-like musical calls. (See...my explanation is definitely not doing it justice...you're going to have to trust me...it really was beautiful!)

Anyway...it reminded me of an essay I wrote several years ago (and I do mean several! I was an undergrad at the time!) in response to the following quote:

“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” – Albert Einstein, Living Philosophies, 1931

I decided to post it here as motivation to start blogging again. I really wanted to edit it, because it's slightly long and the perfectionist in me doesn't like to "publish" anything that isn't finished! But I decided to post it in it's original state.

So if you haven't lost interest yet and feel you can forgive the amateur writing and lack of focus, feel free to read on...



Albert Einstein is a wonderfully insightful man and I admire all that he accomplished in his lifetime. Though he was a brilliant man who strove to discover so much, he also understood that mystery is a beautiful thing.

I love learning anything, especially pertaining to math, science, and art. Though many see those three as separate entities, I am drawn to them because of their connections and dependency upon one another. To study any of them without the others would be an injustice to each subject. As I see them intertwining throughout the world in dance, sports, medicine, machinery, and countless other examples, perhaps the most beautiful, interesting, and inexplicable exists in nature.

While fractal geometry can explain so much from the design of an amusement park ride to the shape of a simple maple leaf, those who have no knowledge of these algorithms are able to enjoy the created and natural world just the same. I love that we have computers that can repeat an equation so many times that we can see shapes and patterns emerge, but I know that an equation can never explain the beauty and mystery of nature. “Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones, coastlines are not circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a straight line.” (The Fractal Geometry of Nature, 1982)

Newton believed that the entire future could be predicted through his laws and yet the chaos theory shows why that is not true. Small changes in any complicated system will have great effects. Yet, we see the same general patterns again and again, never repeating themselves exactly. The unpredictable and predetermined together unfold to make our world what it is.

Each day we are making new discoveries and it is wonderful. I am thankful that we no longer believe that the flu is caused by the influence of the stars or that the earth is flat, and I wonder what it is we will discover in my lifetime. And yet I feel that knowledge is a dangerous thing as it ruins the simple pleasure of life.

Life’s delight is not in the single moments of discovery but the journey as a whole. Each moment of life is a small mystery. Will it stop raining soon? Will I go to graduate school next year? Will I live to be a hundred? Though many of our questions we can answer with some confidence, we also know that there is always an element of uncertainty. Life does not follow our plans, and thus our plans are changed to follow life.

Just the same, Science is full of theories and laws that are ever-changing in a world of discovery. We often find that the things we thought or believed to be true are in fact not the case. Will we ever discover it all? Certainly, not. As we answer one question we are faced with hundreds more.

Science is the study of mystery and art the expression of it.

As an artist conveys his message, he is articulating his own inquiries of life. He communicates his journey and discoveries through each choice of color or placement as he creates a masterpiece in any media. And yet as each person views a play, listens to a melody, or gazes at a photograph he sees the same general piece, but never exactly the same.

Einstein’s thoughts have been echoed on more than one occasion in the 75 years since he wrote Living Philosophies, by persons of all backgrounds, education, and walks of life. I think it is best articulated in the words of the character Septimus in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia when he states, “When we have found all the mysteries and lost all the meaning we will be alone, on an empty shore.”

The enjoyment of life is not in the pursuit of the mysterious, but in the mystery itself.