Beautiful it is, indeed. However, such symmetry is no miracle. A lot of it is innated: It's physical principles that, in the absence of external forces, such as gravity, govern the patterns, and these principles tend to give things simple shapes, which hold a lot less energy than more "arbitrary" ones, and therefor are more stable.
Take that, Neal Stephenson. :wink:
Beautiful it is, indeed. However, such symmetry is no miracle. A lot of it is innated: It's physical principles that, in the absence of external forces, such as gravity, govern the patterns, and these principles tend to give things simple shapes, which hold a lot less energy than more "arbitrary" ones, and therefor are more stable.
Yes, thats perfect. You would make a great America Shaftoe.You're trying to tell me I'd make a great America (!!) Shaftoe? At least I'm not into fantasy rolegames. But his books are still good.
I agree with Claire that simple symmetrical shapes are probably more stable than arbitrary ones, but I have to say that squares are very unlikely. That is really amazing. If I was the first to see that thing late at night through a telescope I would be sleeping with the lights on for a week. It looks disturbingly artificial.