Patterns in Nature
"The revelation that particle interactions, the most basic events in nature, may be consequences of geometry significantly advances a decades-long effort to reformulate quantum field theory, the body of laws describing elementary particles and their interactions."
Natalie Wolchover, Quanta Magazine
How is it that repeating patterns in the natural world occur in different domains? What does this tell us about the cosmos and our place within?
A Snowflake
I recently ran across a series of photographs on Wired of snowflakes. It was curious that not only that snowflakes were consistently hexagonal and symmetrical but that some didn't have jagged fractal like edges. Snowflakes like the one pictured here fracture inwardly instead of outwardly.
Saturn's North Pole
Another posting on Wired showed a series of exquisite photographs from the Casini interplanetary explorer sailing around the edges of Saturn. This curious image of Saturn's North Pole was included. It's a persistent hexagonal cloud pattern. "The sides of the hexagon are about 13,800 km (8,600 mi) long, which is longer than the Earth's diameter. It rotates with a period of 10h 39m 24s, the same period as Saturn's radio emissions from its interior." Wikipedia
A Diatom
Diatoms are group of algae, a form of phytoplankton enclosed within a cell wall of silica. they originated in the Jurassic period 200 million -145 million years ago. They come in various shapes and are usually microscopic though some get as big as 2 millimeters long.
Paleodictyon
Paleodictyon is a trace fossil, usually interpreted to be a burrow, which appears in the geologic marine record beginning in the Precambrian/Early Cambrian[1] and in modern ocean environments.[
Honeycomb
A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal wax cells built by honey bees for the larvae as well as to store honey and pollen.
Carbon Nanotube
These cylindrical carbon molecules have unusual properties, which are valuable for nanotechnology, electronics, optics and other fields of materials science and technology.
Nanotubes are members of the fullerene structural family. Their name is derived from their long, hollow structure with the walls formed by one-atom-thick sheets of carbon, called graphene. These sheets are rolled at specific and discrete ("chiral") angles, and the combination of the rolling angle and radius decides the nanotube properties; for example, whether the individual nanotube shell is a metal or semiconductor.
A Single Molecule
So, is this is repetition of a hexagonal pattern a result of billions of years chaotic mixing in each holarchic level of organization within the cosmos? Is this the result of the most efficient use of space and relationships of energy within this universe? Does some form of subtle order or abstract geometry that underpins the evolution of energetic structures within the cosmos? Am I imposing a cognitive pattern embedded within my own brain-mind upon a chaotic cosmos? Is the universe a simulation that utilizes predictable and repeatable structures of information? Does this repeated pattern point toward a natural intelligence that has self organized within billions of years of cosmic evolution?
Can we discern similar hexagonal patterns in our own brain-minds and consciousness?
And what would those be?
Time to do some more Cosmic Fishing.
Paleodictyon is a trace fossil, usually interpreted to be a burrow, which appears in the geologic marine record beginning in the Precambrian/Early Cambrian[1] and in modern ocean environments.[
A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal wax cells built by honey bees for the larvae as well as to store honey and pollen.
Carbon Nanotube
Nanotubes are members of the fullerene structural family. Their name is derived from their long, hollow structure with the walls formed by one-atom-thick sheets of carbon, called graphene. These sheets are rolled at specific and discrete ("chiral") angles, and the combination of the rolling angle and radius decides the nanotube properties; for example, whether the individual nanotube shell is a metal or semiconductor.
A Single Molecule
Some researchers at IBM managed to photograph a single molecule and show the bonds between atoms.
So, is this is repetition of a hexagonal pattern a result of billions of years chaotic mixing in each holarchic level of organization within the cosmos? Is this the result of the most efficient use of space and relationships of energy within this universe? Does some form of subtle order or abstract geometry that underpins the evolution of energetic structures within the cosmos? Am I imposing a cognitive pattern embedded within my own brain-mind upon a chaotic cosmos? Is the universe a simulation that utilizes predictable and repeatable structures of information? Does this repeated pattern point toward a natural intelligence that has self organized within billions of years of cosmic evolution?Can we discern similar hexagonal patterns in our own brain-minds and consciousness?
And what would those be?
Time to do some more Cosmic Fishing.
