this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2024
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[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Coastlines are not self repeating and they are fundamentally finite.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I believe they were referring to this, where technically a coast could be seen as similar to fractals

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastline_paradox

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago

Literally from that page

The coastline paradox is often criticized because coastlines are inherently finite, real features in space, and, therefore, there is a quantifiable answer to their length.[17][19] The comparison to fractals, while useful as a metaphor to explain the problem, is criticized as not fully accurate, as coastlines are not self-repeating and are fundamentally finite.[17]

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Fractals are not necessarily self repeating, they just contain detail at arbitrarily small scales.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

Which a physical space cannot fulfill

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Fractals are not required to be self-repatiing. For example, the Mandelbrot set is a non-self repeating fractal pattern.

And please elaborate on how they are fundamentally finite.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Coastlines exist in the real world, they are by definition finite structures. You can only zoom in to them so far before the structure is no longer a coastline.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Thats making a lot of assumptions about quantum physics

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

An atom is not a coastline, even if it is a piece of one