[Terr_]

I'd be cautious about the word "fractal" misleading us into looking for a scale-spanning pattern that dictates both large and small details simultaneously.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and fine features occur for different reasons than coarse features.

[andrewflnr]

> fine features occur for different reasons than coarse features

Important point. This makes reality even less tractable than a fractal, by a solid margin!

[wruza]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=gB9n2gHsHN4 (3B1B: Fractals are typically not self-similar)

[Terr_]

My point isn't about outcome similarity, but shared causation.

All possible different-looking snapshots of a Mandelbrot fractal may look extremely very different, but they come from the same mathematical cause.

In contrast, the jagged molecules of my wood tabletop come from the nature of organic polymers and how biological systems are able to manufacture them, while the smooth scale of my tabletop comes because I made it that way with a belt sander.