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> as is explained in the very short article It’s a straw man. The fractal is an analogy; nobody seriously thinks you can zoom in or out of a cauliflower infini
by kergonath 4y ago
> as is explained in the very short article
It’s a straw man. The fractal is an analogy; nobody seriously thinks you can zoom in or out of a cauliflower infinitely. We know about atoms and stuff. It’s just pointless pedantry.
- wrs 4y agoAnalogies are only useful to the extent they have explanatory power. The assertion here is that this one doesn’t: there are several distinct growth mechanisms applied in sequence, not a recursive application of the same mechanism.
- anigbrowl 4y agoDifferent mechanisms can use the same template. The Romanesco cauliflower is so obviously self-similar that ignoring this in favor of talking about mechanisms that vary according to scale needs is missing the forest for the trees.
- anonymouskimmer 4y agoBiology has the concept of convergent evolution. Would you say a Thylacine is a Wolf, and that it's appropriate to treat one as the other? Fractals are a singular example of repeating patterns, but there are additional repeating pattern types that aren't fractals. Just like Thylacines and Wolves were/are examples of apex predators, not versions of each other.