Fractal Distortion by Chipka
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Description
I searched—as always—for the proof that Armando told me I would find. The world is mostly flat he’d said with a species of conviction I judged as a symptom of insanity. By Armando’s own account, his family line seethes and crackles with mental dysfunctions: arcane disorders scarcely numbered in The Catalogue. It was easy, I thought, to dismiss Armando’s subtle and elegant ravings.
Now—I think—I was wrong. Because of something he'd said in passing.
“The sentient being understands practicalities. The sentient being understands the use of tools and the demands of survival. Rational foresight, as the spawn of cognition is what makes a creature sentient. But sapience is what distinguishes the human animal from those lower by an arrogant evolutionist’s standards. In the human animal, sapience is the compulsion we feel to prove our own existence and our own perceptions. We pride ourselves in our knowledge…but we have fallen. We have forgotten how to prove. We accept things unquestioningly.
He told me—later—of his most stunning discovery. He told me that the world is a reflection projected upon the skin of a digital (mathematical) medium. He says that this digital skin is imperfect, flawed, and forever changing. He said that our lives are not the lives our ancestors have taught us to understand. Our world and their world are two different places. He showed me an equation proving this. He asked me to study it, to learn how to not only see, but to also feel it. As his friend, I agreed to do so, and now, I cannot escape the strange truth Armando has shared with me.
Our world is a projection: a dream that seeks to prove itself. The dream is never incorrect or flawed, but it is sometimes projected upon a warped surface: a wrinkled skin. I have learned to see our projection upon that skin, and most horribly, I’ve learned to see the wrinkles, the scars, and the errant mole-growths. I cannot escape them, nor do I wish to, as Armando’s truth implies that we emanate from one reality and shine upon the skin of another. We exist, not as a mere dream at all, really, but as an interaction between a dreamer and the surface upon which that dream is projected.
—Anonymous (found in a notebook left in an attic.)
*
Weird things happen when you look at the world as reflected in the window of a laundromat. Weirder things happen when that window is blacked by an imperfectly-applied coat of adhesive lamination. Reflections and adhesive puckers make for unexpected photographs, and unexpected photographs (in my mind at least) give birth to the seeds of unexpected stories.
I took this picture last Saturday. I was amazed at the odd laminate-pucker pattern caused by sunlight and air bubbles. I thought—for a moment—of “flawed projections” and those “iron prison” nightmares explored in everything from Gnostic Christianity to the Matrix movies (and in a sense, any cinematic science fictional adventure involving the virtual world.) I wondered if there could be any truth to the concepts explored in such movies (and books,) but if that truth was far stranger (and less malevolent) than we could possibly imagine. More later….
As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week.
Comments (26)
mbz2662
How cool... I thought you had applied some kind of filter :p A fractured world. Well done.
MagikUnicorn
Really IMPRESSIVE.....WAY COOL
Sepiasiren
odd but very very cool
mgtcs
Very, very impressive capture Chip, spectacular photo and words my friend, you always amaze me!
auntietk
That is too cool, my friend. I love the patterns! Now I might have seen that, and I might have even taken 30 or so photographs of it from different angles and at different distances until you'd scream at me to quit. But never in a million years would I have thought about a projected, flawed, flat world. Dang. (And you've even got the wrinkles spaced just right against the building across the street. EXCELLENT stuff!)
beachzz
hmmm, i remember laundromats; weird things always happened there. i never saw strange things on windows, but i once filled a front loader with too much soap and came back to find the machines barfing suds. I left quickly, came back later to sneak my clothes out. I felt like I was in an episode of "I Love Lucy"!! Anyway, I digress, as I do often when I see your fotos. This is way cool and of course your story rocks!!!
blinkings
I think the fact that we 'accept things unquestioningly' may be our ultimate downfall. Never forget the plight of the Eloi in 802701 AD! Weena was a babe though so I guess it's all going to be OK!
durleybeachbum
"an interaction between a dreamer and the surface upon which that dream is projected." Now there's a thought! Brilliant... Even without the words this is a fascinating image.
helanker
AW! That is so well seen and captured. I did wonder what it could be. A really cool shot. :-)
kgb224
Stunning photography my friend.
Bossie_Boots
Very creative and impressive .. superb !!
Bothellite
So we've de-laminated from the soil and it's the dirty truth. Having farmed for many years it's beginning to make sense.
icerian
World as projection. Interesting idea and realization!
Feliciti
well seen ,and cool idea too !
MrsRatbag
Wow, I hope that you'll explore this concept more fully; what a story it would make! As a storylet it's compelling and haunting...and your image is brilliant, what a great find and capture!
flavia49
fantastic prose and image1!
Orinoor
Really wonderful photo and concept, makes you think!
RodS
For a minute, I thought that was something you added in Gimp..... Really neat the way you've captured this, and created a story around it. Awesome work, Chip!
myrrhluz
Very cool image! The first thing it made me think of was the patterns of the spidery black lesions of the blight in the DS9 program "The Quickening". It looked like an infection, creeping onto reality. Excellent capture and fascinating story.
jac204
Great capture. Perhaps my laundromat should use this laminate to make things interesting.
sandra46
COOL WORK
marybelgium
beautiful work !
BessieB
A fascinating shot, well spotted.
Hendesse
An interesting shot indeed. Looks fantastic!
danapommet
That is a cool effect but would drive me crazy (a short drive I admit) if I lived there. Dana
CoreyBlack
How do we know we're here? How do I know this website even exists? How do I know that one of my legs is bigger than the other and both of my feet are too long? Interesting ruminations. Love the pic. It makes me think ominously of "The Blob", and nasty gelatinous creatures oozing up my leg. Funny how I've been to this laundry many times and never noticed this before. Nice work.