Humanity is so manifestly intent upon lethally fouling its nest in so many ways, it's odd that I seem alone in finding a glimmer of hope for mankind in the surfacing, as though the frothing up, of fractals in our culture.
        Fractals are a world of pure - not applied - beauty, which we observe through strictly contemporary technological means. They are uncanny, a mathematical metaphor for a perhaps recursive quality to the universe. And they are a proof that the most fantastic order are an exaggeration of practically nothing, that spontaneous generation of beauty is more than possible, at times mathematically obligatory. In human terms, that the best fractal software is freeware, reveals a generosity of spirit combined with a power of invention, which suggests that the human spirit and the tao of technology are still not to be totally written off.

        Certainly humanity at the least is ushering in the greatest mass extinction in Earth's history; but consideration of past extinctions suggests a potential way for us to redeem our disgraceful betrayal of stewardship. -Since previous mass extinctions have apparently generally been caused by large asteroid impacts, if through technology and will we successfully counter a doomsday asteroid, even the depleted ecology we bequeathe may be richer than if we had never been.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

        [Sometimes I converse apparently inappropriately about fractals. People are more or less polite but I can tell they regard me as some sort of lunatic, abstracted from the manifestly real, from the instinctual. They nod and I get the feeling that they hate fractals, secretly. As a reflection of their own indifference to form, pointless form, of their projection of this negative recursion, this feeling within themselves, outward onto the fractals themselves.]
 
 



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