The Teaching Company: Chaos

[SilverShamrock71]

how about when you get down to the sub atomic level, is it still possible to keep increasing magnification and therefore measured distance infinitely?

[Aldeberan9]

I heard a TTC anthropology lecture that basically was saying race is a figment of our imagination. That isn't teaching, it is propaganda.

[HaveLucidDreamz]

@Aldeberan9 actually its not, the purpose of a liberal arts education is to learn to see things from a different perspective and participate in discussions over issues which affect human society and life at large. If you have a good professor they can do this, and if you have a great professor they can do this while still being able to respect people's right to their individual opinions and ideologies. Propaganda goes a step further, it attempts to convert you to that different perspective.

[100CommonCents]

@Aldeberan9 it is from a biological perspective

[3LARI]

@Aldeberan9 It's not propaganda, it's actually true. From a biological perspective, there is no difference between humans. We all evolved from a single species billions of years ago. Anyway, race should never be an issue and if it is for you, well... each to his own, but I'd recommend looking for similarities rather than differences. It's all a matter of perceptions.

[Soulquarium]

Not only Is Dr. Strogatz come off as a very knowledgeable professor in his field of expertise, he also manages to seem very self effacing as an person.

[PathIntegration]

I think you went into the hinterlands at bout 5:06. I was going to post something relevant to what's called 'the renormalization group" in physics, but this guy kinda messed the whole idea up towards the end

[3e3op88]

The Teaching Company rocks!

[ericjohnsa]

The teaching company Is SO awesome. Their courses have improved my life over the years more than I cam say. Check out Understanding the Universe (one of their courses), it's my favorite. This one is really good too.

[Soulquarium]

@ericjohnsa Dr. Mark Whittle...he's incredible! My wife and daughter(who is in 5th grade) will sit down and watch TTC videos, and have a deep discussion afterwards regarding what took place and what was learned. We watch everything they put on DVD we can get out hands on, and we do the workbooks together.

[ericjohnsa]

@Soulquarium ... That is awesome. Since time is the only thing none of us can afford to waste, it makes sense to spend some of it watching and learning from the best professors our planet has to offer. Doing the workbooks together as a family is a wonderful idea... I'm glad you shared it. :)

[KONERSBONER]

There are two different type of fractals; Mandelbrot sets have a seemingly finite shape whereas julia sets seem to keep bifurcating infinitely. So yes, the 'broccoli' example is a mandelbrot set, so it can be considered FINITE. HOWEVER(!); you are inciorrect using the word natural since ALL fractals display the natural phenomenon of bifurcations resulting into SEEMINGLY chaotic behavior. ;)

So you were right, but then you were so wrong at the same time.

[AllFractUp]

I believe he got it wrong when he was talking about exactness. The broccoli he was using is a natural fractal. It has self-similarity at different scales of magnification. Not all fractals are rigidly self-similar. If they were imagine how boring things would be after a few seconds of zooming into their inner realms.

[nose2cr00k]

the shows over, theres nothing to see lol

[sharpezor]

lol

[Atzlann]

heh heh

[puravidajc]

Yes I want to eat that broccoli too....don't care about fractals..jajaj.

[ultraconform]

I want to eat that.

[Hradnir]

An entire term of fractals summed up better in a 5 minute video....awesome!

[LothairApoclyane]

holy crap where can i get broccoli like that?

[LothairApoclyane]

great video