The chapter Fractals by Adrienne Marie Brown is a writing piece about how smaller patterns can be seen in larger macro-scale developments within the functioning universe. She specifically mentions fractals due to their visibility in tangible objects, such as enormous communities of spores on dandelions, and the Fibonacci sequence being a noted characteristic in the construction of cauliflower. The author tied the concept of fractals to the problem solving skills of 21st century humans on micro and global scales. Her thesis was that we as a species have created a predicament for ourselves where the environment is deteriorating and global societal structures are crumpling partly because of our inability to make good decisions. The piece discusses the importance of patterns, and how the micro is the answer to the macro-resultant from a set list of defined actions. Therefore, the author makes it clear that determining what the micro is in the first place would be a key element in defining future success. The author also mentions accountability and the significance of methodology; people assuming responsibility for their actions provides balance, and performing a described protocol derived from relentlessly asking “how” will end up in the desired solution. I thought that the piece was effective in terms of listing the ramifications of past human progression and giving examples in which her thesis was applied and was successful. Areas that were lacking were ironically the “how”. In a real life scenario, it’s not like people who fight the face of poverty everyday can access even a sliver of time to discuss local community action (or enough to have productive results in actuality). A part of the author’s method to solving issues is discourse, and I personally find it unable to be performed efficiently outside of a formalized setting. It upsets me to read that the author basically gave tips and tricks to having micro-level actions translate into bigger picture results, but was not able to give actual details on the detailed application of the process and how certain demographics of age, race, etc. are all variable factors.
Shown below is the beginning of a Fibonacci sequence made with fingerprints. The darker shade is a result of pressing the same amount corresponding to the number of the sequence. 