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You are dreaming. 

You have been rewarded with an immeasurable amount of dream time. 

In this dream you are flying. You are above the clouds and looking down giving you a whole new perspective.

 Instead of blue sky being the backdrop to the clouds, you see the Earth on the other side. The clouds are creating what seems like a never-ending pattern of structured design. You see what you think is the beginning of the pattern because everything looks to move away from this point.

 As you try to fly to the end, all of a sudden you are met with another pattern that has come out of nowhere. 

Alarm.

These patterns are called fractals and they are geometric objects that have two properties. “infinitely detailed and self-similar”. (Fractals in Nature). Mathematical fractals are generated by taking a set of inputs and applying them to an equation. The output of this equation is then fed into the same equation which provides a different set of inputs. These are then plotted on to the “graph” for defined or infinite amount of times. This process is called feedback. There are two kind of feedback as defined in Gleick. Positive feedback, like when the sound of a speaker is re-amplified through the mic and back out the speaker , can grow rapidly and spiral out of control. Negative feedback can guide a system towards equilibrium. (Gleick, 238). The manner in which the fractal equation operates allows for values that have been entered to not rapidly grow or diminish, but to maintain.

When fractal equations were first being studied and developed, the mathematicians did not realize the full potential. Just like with Babbage's Difference machine, the application of the technology was more than its original purpose. Babbage's machine went from a purely mathematical process machine to one that could write music. Fractals went from being observed in nature, to being a purely mathematical equation, to it being used in computer software and electronic efficiency  Trees have a similar fractal pattern to that of a Mandelbrot set which allows for the maximization of photosynthesis due to the rotation of the Earth. Solar panels created in the shape of a tree, instead of one big panel, generate more power.

Below is a fractal that I made from a fractal generator that I downloaded for free.

Fractal Source. Fractal Info

Inspect a Fractal. Fractal Generator