Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts:

Today's fractal has neither name nor rating.  It deserves none.  I spent all of 5 minutes finding and coloring it, and the rest of my limited time writing the philosophical part of the philofractal version of today's discussion.

The terraced effect of today's image is pretty much like that of yesterday's, the main difference being the new coloring.  The parent fractal is another grossly bloated thing that needs several outzooms to fit onto the screen.  It was created by subtracting some Z^(2.25) from some Z^(-2.25) and adding (1/C).

With a render time of under one minute even on my tired old wreck of a computer, the image will not deprive anyone of their valuable time.

While pondering life's mysteries, I always find questions faster than I find answers.  The number one question can only be 'does something exist which fills the definition of God?'.  The answer depends on the meaning given the word 'God'.

If God is defined as the natural laws of the universe, then the answer is yes, but laws in themselves have no awareness, and one thing any god worth the word 'deity' must possess is cosmic consciousness.

If God is defined as a glorified and invisible super-human in the sky, then IMO the answer is no.  Such a being would have too many self-contradictions to exist.

Could a message from an intelligent designer (aka God) be encoded in the irregularities of the cosmic background radiation?  Possibly, though probably not.  And if a message were encoded, would we be able to decipher the language?

Could God, if such an entity exists, actually be infinite in any way?  Possibly, though we would need to determine which order of infinity he would fit into.  There are an infinity of infinities, each infinity infinitely more infinite than the infinity immediately below.  (Great sentence.)

Would the acts of God that appear so horrendously cruel to us make more sense if we were as all-knowing as God is supposed to be?  We could never determine this without actually becoming all-knowing ourselves.

Is there a higher meaning to life?  Not if naturalists are right and our senses reveal the totality of existence.  An existence beyond that of earthly life is necessary for any higher meaning.

Little sun, chilly winds and a temperature of 37F 3C kept the cat duo safely indoors here at Old Fractal Central on Friday.  Luckily, the extra tuna kept them content with their misfortune. In my department, the work was wrapped up with a bit of time to spare.  The next FOTD will be delayed two days until January 10, because we will be out of town over the weekend, checking a promising New Fractal Central.  Until then, take care, and be patient, but don't become a patient.

Jim Muth
jamth@mindspring.com
jimmuth@aol.com


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