Do Things Ever Stop Being Random?

Do Things Ever Stop Being Random?

Do things ever stop being random?

During a group critique, I was asked if things ever stop being random. I have replied by saying that if one interferes with the way that something develops and controls it then it will stop being random. I gave an example of a tree fence which had all of it’s bunches trimmed at the same length. I explained that each brunch would have followed its own route if one did not cut it in order to control the way it looks. By having someone interfering in the growing process of a brunch it stops it from growing up randomly. Nevertheless, thinking more carefully I have asked myself “do tree brunches grow randomly”? The tree brunches may seem chaotic when growing however, they are not random. Everything in nature follows its own pattern according to different factors such as water, sun, and wind. These patterns are called fractals. John Briggs points out that in 1960s and 1970s an IBM researcher, Benoit Mandelbrot, invented a new geometry, which he called “fractal” geometry. Mandelbrot coined the term “fractal” to suggest “fractured” and “fractional” - a geometry that focuses on broken, wrinkled, and uneven shapes. Furthermore, Briggs explains that patterns in nature are self similar. This means that as viewers peer deeper into the fractal image, they notice that the shapes seen at one scale are similar to the shapes seen in the detail at another scale. (Briggs, 1992, p. 23). Consequently, things need to first be random in order to stop being