Coding Loudly » Ted http://www.charlesmerriam.com/blog Charles Merriam's loud tales of coding and technology Sat, 01 May 2010 06:57:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 TED Talk Video Write-up: African fractals, in buildings and braids http://www.charlesmerriam.com/blog/2007/12/ted-talk-video-write-up-african-fractals-in-buildings-and-braids/ http://www.charlesmerriam.com/blog/2007/12/ted-talk-video-write-up-african-fractals-in-buildings-and-braids/#comments Thu, 06 Dec 2007 19:58:52 +0000 charles http://www.charlesmerriam.com/blog/?p=84 ethiop.gif

Ron Eglash makes a strong case for fractals being the dominant art form of Africa in this Ted Talk.

He explores villages showing a fractal nature far beyond the accidental. Art and religion drive village architectures that repeat into small objects at the heart of the village. His discussions with tribal leaders show the deep meanings of these choices, and a continuance of these themes into African life.

Fractals are explained, and the theme is shown in the Mancala games, fence construction, tapestry, and aspects of religion. Binary patterning, as part of mysticism, produce a good random number generator. Finally, some efforts are shown as incorporating this heritage into an educational system.

This is a fascinating 15 minute video. Also, he provides software for exploring fractals.

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