{"id":6509,"date":"2026-06-23T12:39:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=6509"},"modified":"2026-06-23T12:41:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:41:39","slug":"video-killed-the-radio-star-ai-vs-fractal-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=6509","title":{"rendered":"Video Killed the Radio Star: AI vs. Fractal Art"},"content":{"rendered":"

Perhaps it’s too early to tell. We can still comfortably ignore it. The sublime mathematical magic behind fractal art will forever establish it as “more than just art \u2014a whole new universe”<\/em> and “without rivals”. (“I’m quoting myself,” as I write…)<\/p>\n

Here’s the big question today, in the time of AI:<\/p>\n

“what can fractals do that AI can’t do?”<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I see my prophetic predictions coming true, that fractal art’s most enduring talent will not be the artwork it has produced but rather the software itself and the interactive exploration that it enables. AI will (or has already) overtaken the graphical creativity of fractals. The talents that made someone a big star back in the days of radio look homemade and amateurish on a video screen.\u00a0 Our world has changed again. A link<\/a> to the song.<\/p>\n

In the media world to come where everything is fake, reality will not be possible anymore, everything will be an opinion of reality \u2014personal perception. What you see is what you get; what you see is what you see.\u00a0 When everything is fake, face value will be the only value anything will have; not the value it claims but the value it portrays. Art, or whatever, will be judged on it’s immediate perceived properties because no one will believe anyone who says they painstakingly made it by hand, or that it is a “real” photograph.\u00a0 Fractals of course have parameter files that can be brought out as evidence of authenticity, but that won’t work… no one will believe in authenticity anymore and everything will be assumed to be AI and even your evidence will be assumed to be AI “generated”.\u00a0 Appearance is 9\/10s of the law.\u00a0 We have no idea how it was made or where you got it from!\u00a0 We don’t even know who you are.\u00a0 And neither do you!\u00a0 Anyone could really be you!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Pinterest search on “fractal art”. What’s genuinely fractal here? What’s genuinely interesting? What grabs your eye?\u00a0 Are AI “imitation fractals” substantially different –visually?”<\/p><\/div>\n

But we can still play around with the fractal machinery and go places.\u00a0 But there won’t be any audience for fractal art beyond that of the artists themselves who will form a sort of Explorers Club<\/em> where they share snapshots and mementos and tell hunting tales.\u00a0 I see that even now.<\/p>\n

But I don’t think AI will ever imitate the wild panoramic zooming powers of fractal software and that fractal adventureland it generates.\u00a0 But really, who knows what AI will able to produce and how we will be able to work with it (or just play with it) in the future.\u00a0 “The future” which is probably already here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Perhaps it’s too early to tell. We can still comfortably ignore it. The sublime mathematical magic behind fractal art will forever establish it as “more than just art \u2014a whole new universe” and “without rivals”. (“I’m quoting myself,” as I write…) Here’s the big question today, in the time of AI: “what can fractals do … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Pinterest-fractal-art-search-Jun-2026.png?fit=500%2C270","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":267,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=267","url_meta":{"origin":6509,"position":0},"title":"Beware of the Anti-Fractal","author":"Tim","date":"26 January, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I know this will probably crack some folks up at first, but bear with me as I tell you about something that came to mind just recently while browsing the big page of \"winners\" at the 2007 Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest site.First, let me draw your attention to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 9 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 9 comments","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=267#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2848,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2848","url_meta":{"origin":6509,"position":1},"title":"Rebooting Fractal Art: Part 3","author":"Tim","date":"4 August, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"What fractals fail to do... You can't make art with them.\u00a0 And we all need our heads examined for thinking we could in the first place. I should be a bit more specific when I say, \"art\".\u00a0 I mean the thinking man's stuff.\u00a0 The kind of image that provokes your\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 6 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 6 comments","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2848#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Beardsley-peacockskirt.jpg?fit=400%2C547&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3009,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=3009","url_meta":{"origin":6509,"position":2},"title":"Fractals: A New Medium","author":"Tim","date":"22 September, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I think I've found a better way to explain what makes fractal art so different than other art forms.\u00a0 The differences are there simply because fractals themselves are a different medium to work with.\u00a0 Fractals are different than paint and canvas or chisel and stone. In fact, fractals are probably\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=3009#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Zon9.jpg?fit=500%2C500&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5672,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=5672","url_meta":{"origin":6509,"position":3},"title":"Everything you need to know about Fractals and Art in one blog post","author":"Tim","date":"11 August, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Fractals are many things to many people but as an art form they're really very simple:\u00a0 Fractals are a visual medium. Do not be fooled by such simple language and such a simple statement,\u00a0 \"medium\" is the thin edge of the wedge that splits fractal art apart and reveals all\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"322px-Mandel_zoom_00_mandelbrot_set","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/322px-Mandel_zoom_00_mandelbrot_set.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5613,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=5613","url_meta":{"origin":6509,"position":4},"title":"Why can’t fractals do what art does?","author":"Tim","date":"2 June, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the years I've come to see this as the perennial problem in fractal art. Naturally there are many other perspectives regarding the \"art-worthiness\" of fractals, among which the most common seems to be that they're essentially no different than any other medium that artists work with. But this doesn't\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/freak07.jpg?fit=500%2C375&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4633,"url":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=4633","url_meta":{"origin":6509,"position":5},"title":"Fractal Artists are Deluded Narcissists","author":"Tim","date":"26 March, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"First, let me explain.\u00a0 I make such a bold statement not because I hate fractals (or fractal artists) but because I love fractals and include myself among the hopelessly deluded. A quaint anecdote I came to this realization in a rather unexpected way: through rediscovering the joy of fractal artistry.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/fracto01.jpg?fit=494%2C599&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6509"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6517,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6509\/revisions\/6517"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}