My usual comment on all these things that the mystical types consider proof a a grand design is "If I designed the universe pi would not be an irrational number".
In fact there would be no irrational numbers in a rational universe. And, you sure shouldn't need non-numbers to make your number system work. Numbers are a product of the human mind, a useful tool, not a universal truth. Wow, I am agreeing with Don on something. Now there is a wonder. Ciao, Graywolf http://pages.prodigy.net/graywolfphoto ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dr E D F Williams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, December 29, 2002 8:04 AM Subject: Aethetics and clear thinking > Cause and Effect > > There is something about the 'Golden Section', the 'Golden Triangle', the > 'Golden Proportions' or 'Rule of Thirds' or any other name one cares to > choose for these elusive photographic or pictorial qualities, that is > unconducive to clear thinking. Pentax users, amongst the most intelligent of > photographers, if only for their choice of lenses, are no better at sorting > it out than anyone else. Why? Because Nature does not obey any mathematical > rules. > > Numbers mean nothing to a virus particle (virion) or a crystal of gold, or > the amorphous aggregation of crystals found in steel, or the bones of my > leg. The arrangement of the capsomers that form the envelope of an > icosahedral virion for example, is not such because of numbers, but because > of the nature of the different capsomers themselves. Some are pentagonal > others hexagonal. They fit together neatly. The shape is determined by their > own sub-units and how they tend to join and the shape of these are in turn > determined by genetic information. They are built upon genetic templates > and their structure is determined by either RNA or DNA which carries the > 'blueprint' for construction. We can now draw beautiful diagrams of how > these all fit together and write mathematical formulae that predict how this > comes about. Geodesic domes and Virus particles are similar in construction. > Forgive me for being simplistic here. > > Now along comes a nutty Creationist who say's, "See how even the humble > viruses obey God's Mathematical Laws of Nature?" He sits down and starts to > calculate. This is how it usually starts. Numbers can ~only~ be used to > describe what happens in nature, not to determine it: But even then only up > to a point. In some cases with great accuracy, in others only approximately, > most times not at all. > > To say that there is a mathematical rule for beautiful composition is like > making a rule for my behaviour from the information (usually erroneous) that > when I was born the planets were arranged in a particular way. Because of > this fortunate, or unfortunate coincidence, I must needs do, or not, this or > that, on certain days of the week, month or year because my existence and > the course of my life will forever be determined by this load of crap. > > Make your pictures look good and forget about 'Golden' anything. You could > spend a lifetime measuring masterpieces in museums and galleries around the > world and constructing diagrams from them ... but it will only lead you back > to square one. > > Don > > Dr E D F Williams > > http://personal.inet.fi/cool/don.williams > Author's Web Site and Photo Gallery > Updated: March 30, 2002 > > >
