(Mandelbrot set: by António Miguel de Campos)
I’ve been called upon to reveal some scientific research to support my assertion that human behaviors follow the same fractal patterns that are the building blocks of the natural world around us. The onus is on me to provide some proof that the fractalic axiom “as above, so below” applies not only to the physical world, but also to the intangible world of human emotion and behavior. In other worlds, is there any proof that quitting smoking (ending the conscious pollution of your own body) contributes to the efforts to curb global warming (other than my own intuitive ideology)?
I started by looking into the now quite well known research of Masaru Emoto, the Japanese author and entrepreneur who meditated over different glasses of water using various phrases (“you fool” or “gratitude” and the like), froze the water, and then photographed the crystals that formed. In his findings, the positive thoughts caused the formation of beautiful crystals, where the negative thoughts formed ugly ones. This seemed to me like a natural place to jump off the bridge between physical fractal patterns and human behavior, because human behavior caused the regular or irregular fractal patterns that grew as the water froze.
Unfortunately, I had to give up this line of reasoning because so many well informed folks (this man in particular) felt that Dr. Emoto’s experimental procedures were not designed to eliminate enough possible sources for error (for example, the petri dishes in which the crystals formed were not sealed so contaminants–foreign material or even warmed air from the body of the photographer–could have affected the crystal formation). Also, all the photographs were not published. It is conjectured that that Emoto only released the photos that supported his claims. (This is not to say that I don’t believe in the work that he’s done, just that I decided that this study isn’t the best one to use in the effort to prove my own scantily supported claim.)
I decided next to go back to the man who “discovered” fractals in the first place, Benoit Mandelbrot. (What a great name). I started off at this page called fractal wisdom, which is a beautiful website that illustrates the history, beauty and mathematics behind fractals. I read there that Mandelbrot actually started thinking about fractal patterns when he noticed an unusual pattern in cotton prices. Economists had believed that short-term cotton prices should be random but that long-term data would fit a predictable bell curve average as they reacted to real-time economic forces (technology, weather limitations,etc). Unfortunately, the data wouldn’t cooperate with the neat-and-clean model. Here is a succinct excerpt from Eureka! Scientific Breakthroughs that Changed the World by Leslie Allen Horvitz:
Mandelbrot understood something the economics professor did not. Mandelbrot wasn’t looking at the statistics: he was viewing the diagram in terms of shapes and patterns. It was his conviction that other laws, with different behavior, could govern random phenomena. He began to extend his search and gathered cotton price movements from the Department of Agriculture records dating back [60 years] all the way to 1900. Mandelbrot was conducting his investigation at a time when economists accepted as a matter of faith that small, transient changes in price had nothing in common with large, long-term changes. Mandelbrot took issue with this view. Instead of separating small changes from big ones, his picture of reality bound them together. Rather than seek patterns at one scale or another, he was searching out patterns across every scale.
When he ran the cotton price data through IBM’s computers, Mandelbrot was gratified to find that the results dovetailed with what he had expected. While each particular price change was random and unpredictable, the sequence of changes was independent of scale. To put it another way, the overall pattern of changes was unvarying: curves for daily price price changes and monthly price changes matched perfectly.
Economics are driven by human behaviors. Buying and selling and acting and reacting all fall under the realm of social activity. And there’s more too…Before Mandelbrot got his computer to make the beautiful spacial and dimensional designs that he later termed to be fractals, another man found a similar patterns in the financial market:
Ralph Nelson Elliot (1871–1948), a professional accountant, discovered the underlying social principles and developed the analytical tools in the 1930s. He proposed that market prices unfold in specific patterns, which practitioners today call Elliott waves, or simply waves. Elliott published his theory of market behavior in the book The Wave Principle in 1938, summarized it in a series of articles in Financial World magazine in 1939, and covered it most comprehensively in his final major work, Nature’s Laws: The Secret of the Universe in 1946. Elliott stated that “because man is subject to rhythmical procedure, calculations having to do with his activities can be projected far into the future with a justification and certainty heretofore unattainable.” The Elliot Wave Principle posits that collective investor psychology, or “crowd psychology,” moves between optimism and pessimism in natural sequences. These mood swings create patterns evidenced in the price movements of markets at every degree of trend or time scale. (from Wikipedia)
This article, written by Robert Prechter, Jr., describes Elliot’s market trend patterns as fractals even though the term wouldn’t be coined until nearly 30 years after Elliot’s death. (As a brief aside, Prechter developed a theory called socionomics, a theory that addresses the fractal patterns of social trends in areas such as finance, economics, politics, fashion, entertainment, and history.)
So. There you have it. Two tested and true scientifical guys who say that human behavior is, indeed, fractal in nature. I’ll end this treatise with an awesome quote I found in the course of this research, written by Peter Bearse (a Harvard graduate with a Ph.D in economics.)
The discovery that the “geometry of nature” is fractal has radical implications for human beings’ understanding of their society and of their role in things social and political. What does this mean? It means that there is now, for the first time in human history, a firm mathematical and scientific basis for a continuing (r)evolution of society worldwide in ways that focus upon the fulfillment of individual potential as the fundamental aim of human development. Individuals and their actions, however small and localized they may be, can finally be recognized as influences on historical patterns. The “big picture” is a construct of many tiny, interactive patterns. The “Organization Man” is dead or dying in any of his “top down” variations.
Some would say that such a basis was provided over two hundred years ago by the Enlightenment based upon Newtonian physics. Yet, even at the time, the great English artist and poet, William Blake, recognized that this was not so. Subsequent history up to the present time was to prove him right. The Enlightenment was grounded in scientific values, especially relentless testing of theories in light of experimental facts. Mathematical theories provided the basis of Newtonian physics, however, were also employed to rationalize hierarchical systems of power — the dominance of the “little” by the “big,” of the “lower” by the “higher,” etc. Now, such inversions can revert to turn the right side up. The true math-ematical-scientific basis for a continuing American revolution has only recently come into view. And such a view it is! — the potential empowerment of the individual in all spheres depicted by color graphics, creative advertising and fascinating geometrical figures as well as mathematical formulae and scientific studies; enabled by “decentralization,” “devolution,” “flattening of hierarchies,” “reinvention” of selves and organizations, “learning organizations,” “grass roots” individual or community-based initiatives; “think globally; act locally,” and many other ways.
The basis of the fractal revolution is the principle underlying chaos and other natural patterns, that of “self-similarity.” This means that the basic patterns are the same at any scale. They are the same at large “macro” scales as at small “micro” scales. The large is revealed by, and grows out from, the small. Wholes mimic parts (and vice versa); the bigger is revealed in the smaller. (Emphasis in paragraph one added by me. Full article here.)
Reblogged this on P A N T O L O G I S M.
Hi Susana and to others,
Really enjoyed reading the article. In fact, my Phd thesis ( soon) will be investigating on how investors, socially-based responsible investing make decision-making under Knightian uncertainty using fractal market hypothesis from wavelet analysis modeling. Indeed, your suggestion and advice are very much welcomed and appreciated. Hope to explore and share more from it soon. Thank you.
I would like to express my thanks to this writer for rescuing me from this particular dilemma.
After surfing around throughout the internet and getting opinions that were not beneficial, I assumed my entire life was well over.
Existing without the presence of approaches to the problems you have fixed as a result of your good blog post is a critical case,
as well as the kind which may have in a wrong way affected my entire career if I hadn’t come across the website. Your main mastery and kindness in touching all areas was valuable. I’m not sure what
I would’ve done if I had not come across such a solution like this. I can at this time look ahead to my future. Thanks so much for the high quality and amazing guide. I will not hesitate to recommend your web page to any individual who needs to have care about this matter.
I would like to express appreciation to you just for bailing me out of this type of predicament.
Just after looking out throughout the world-wide-web and coming across
tricks that were not pleasant, I assumed my life was well over.
Existing without the presence of solutions to the issues you’ve solved by means of this site is a serious case, and ones that might have badly damaged my career if I hadn’t noticed your site.
Your good natural talent and kindness in controlling a lot of things was helpful.
I’m not sure what I would have done if I had not come across such a point like this. I’m able
to at this moment look forward to my future. Thanks for your time very much for this
impressive and sensible help. I won’t think twice to refer your web page to any person who will need counselling about this topic.
Hi Susana,
I too am working on the connection between fractals and human behavior. I am approaching it from a conflict transformation and international relations perspective. One author that I would recommend is Margaret Wheatley she wrote “Leadership and New Science” and co-founded the Berkana Institute. Kenneth Cloke talks about the fractal nature of conflict in “Crossroads of Conflict.” Ken Wilber has a Integral Theory that seems related too. I am convinced as well that there is an important connection here.
Good Luck!
Sweet! I forgot to reply to your comment, but you were the second person to mention the Wheatley book since I started working on fractals…Now I need to get myself a copy of it:)
Prove that nature is fractal? Omg the math involved in such a proof! I think it is far easier to simply know, to have observed for oneself the truth of interconnectedness. Prove reality indeed… but it’s good of you to try! Even if I feel like some people won’t accept proof after proof. They just need to see for themselves, too, I guess.
Oh! Have you heard the song Lateralus by Tool? “As above, so below, and beyond I imagine.” 🙂 Happy spiraling.
Ok, ok…perhaps PROOVE was not the correct word to use in this instance:) Provide data, I think, was the actual request…Off to youtube Tool…Thanks!!!
Ohh, your first time? 😉 I’d love to know what you think of it!
Very cool! I watched a particularly well done and beautifully trippy youtube compilation. I’m puttin’ it on my ipod:)
Nice Post . My Comment is : The 1990 Clean Air Act encourages development and sale of alternative fuels.
Thanks