Thursday, June 17, 2010

Seeing 2010 (#82)

For your consideration: a tableau of structured ambiguity.

The universe seems at once chaotic and kaleidoscopic on vast scale beyond comprehension. Yet amidst the apparent randomness exists an elegant and beautiful order. Consider our own Solar System: each of the the planets traces an endless circuit around the Sun in the same direction, and virtually on the same plane (the Ecliptic Plane) as the others. Similarly, galaxies -- massive collections of billions of stars each -- are found in one of only two general forms (or designs, if you prefer), elliptical and spiral. Billions of them.

So too on the microscopic end of things: the human body consists of arteries and veins laid out in a well-defined and specific topography . . . each channel awash in a myriad of elements including red and white blood cells, hormones, platelets, dissolved proteins and more . . .

At the quantum level things become ever odder: an electron's position can be surmised, or its velocity -- but never both simultaneously. Thus: an architecture of symmetry and uncertainty defines our very essence.

Here, an image illustrating such a landscape.



Cellular (Genesis), #8488

© 2010 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: June 9, 2010; Canon 20D ; f/11 @ 1/80 sec; -2/3 EV; ISO 400; 100mm.

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