Could our universe be fractal?

Could simple mathematics create an entire

universe

? What does broccoli have in common with the big bang? And what does it have to do with video games like No Man's Sky or Minecraft? One thing: they are all based on simple formulas that create infinite complexity. In 1980, mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot published a simple formula: z-z²+c. But it is not applied just once, the result is taken and entered again into the formula. Do this often enough and a pattern will emerge: the Mandelbrot set. The more you repeat this calculation, the more complex details are revealed. Ultimately, he

could

repeat this infinitely, the only limitation being the processing power of his computer.

The patterns that can be found here seem strangely familiar and widespread. Mandelbrot gave them the name "Fractals." Fractal patterns seem so familiar because these shapes are ubiquitous in nature. The most important characteristic of

fractal

s is their so-called "self-similarity." Look at a fern leaf: it is made of smaller and smaller copies of itself. The same goes for Romanesco broccoli. The branching pattern of trees follows this principle as do the courses of rivers. The rays spread in smaller and smaller branches, each of which shares the same characteristics as the main ray. But man-made structures are also organized in

fractal

patterns without us planning them in this way.

Here is a map of all the roads leading to Rome and a map of the Internet. It is especially fascinating that even your own body displays many fractal features. Thanks to its fractal structure, your lungs have a surface area of ​​more than 100 m², which allows them to absorb oxygen efficiently. This oxygen is then transported through the fractal bloodstream to the brain, where neurons are fractally interconnected. Every thought you have, even right now, at this very moment, is a cascade of electrical impulses traveling through the fractal network of your brain. This is a simulation of dark matter in our

universe

.

The visible section is 10 million light years in diameter. Even at these scales you can find the same fractal branching patterns as in the neurons of your brain, in rivers or in lightning. All this complexity is based on simple feedback processes and formulas like the Mandelbrot Set. With today's computers we can take these fractal formulas and add a third dimension. With simple math you can create beautiful 3D worlds. It turns out that the easiest way to simulate a world as realistic as possible is to use fractal formulas. The first fully computer-generated cinematic scene in a feature film was the fractal animation of a planet in StarTrek 2: The Wrath of Khan.

Spock: "Fascinating" The Lucasfilm group responsible for this was later acquired by Steve Jobs. From there he created Pixar, thus revolutionizing Hollywood. His animated films appear so realistic because the generated landscapes are based on the fractal principle of self-similarity. Progress has continued and today these elaborate and expensive movie scenes have evolved into real-time traversable game worlds, like Minecraft landscapes. Its origin has not changed: mathematical formulas that only need to be fed with variables. The most impressive simulation of an entire universe has been created by a small team of 15 independent developers. The No Man's Sky game is probably the most complex and largest game world ever created.

And it fits on a single DVD! Each player begins exploring a randomly chosen planet in the game universe. The players' starting coordinates are the variable that goes into the game's sophisticated but simple formulas. The result creates the entire game world visible in real time. It would be impossible to store all the details using traditional methods. Entire data centers would be needed to store the data of approximately 18 quintillion (!) real-scale planets (!!) along with their unique ecosystems. It doesn't matter whether it's an entire planet, a spaceship, a tree, a rock or a single blade of grass: every detail is the fractal result of a mathematical formula.

So: one of the most realistic and complex simulations of our cosmos arises solely from mere mathematics. And no matter where you look around you in nature and in our man-made reality, you will find fractal patterns everywhere. Don't you think it's time to consider the possibility that fractals are a fundamental element of our cosmos?