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Geometer Explains One Concept in 5 Levels of Difficulty | WIRED

Computer scientist Keenan Crane, PhD, is asked to explain fractals to 5 different people; a child, a teen, a college student, a grad student, and an expert. Still haven’t subscribed to WIRED on YouTube? ►► Listen to the Get WIRED podcast ►► Want more WIRED? Get the magazine ►► Follow WIRED: Instagram ►► Twitter ►►…

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Computer scientist Keenan Crane, PhD, is asked to explain fractals to 5 different people; a child, a teen, a college student, a grad student, and an expert.

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88 Comments

88 Comments

  1. Toru Yamaguchi

    May 30, 2022 at 6:40 pm

    great. now i’m 10x more confused

  2. Peste Negro

    May 30, 2022 at 6:41 pm

    I’d love a Marxism in five levels ????????

    • b3z3jm3nny

      May 30, 2022 at 9:06 pm

      This is a science and technology YouTube channel tho lol

  3. Codisius

    May 30, 2022 at 6:48 pm

    in order to understand recursion you just have to understand recursion is my favorite new quote

  4. RedVIII

    May 30, 2022 at 6:55 pm

    What a great teacher!

  5. colin

    May 30, 2022 at 6:56 pm

    *Grad student talks about perlin noise*
    Minutes later and this MFer pulls up!

  6. Sofia Lee

    May 30, 2022 at 6:58 pm

    The level 4 talk seemed pretty low level

    • Kade

      May 30, 2022 at 8:23 pm

      lmfao what is your account

    • b3z3jm3nny

      May 30, 2022 at 9:09 pm

      @Kade it’s a bot, copying other comments

  7. Vikrant Singh

    May 30, 2022 at 6:59 pm

    The reason why this series is so interesting is because you can literally do anything if you can explain complex topics to 10 years old kids.

  8. stunt cracker

    May 30, 2022 at 7:07 pm

    The first time i saw the world in fractals was on Acid. Very fascinating topic.

    • Mad Monk

      May 30, 2022 at 8:27 pm

      now every time u trip and think about fractals its a trip within a trip; a fractal

  9. Sofia Lee

    May 30, 2022 at 7:08 pm

    “Why are we doing this” lmao

  10. kanhu agrawal

    May 30, 2022 at 7:10 pm

    Anyone knows websits for visulization ?

  11. L Mega

    May 30, 2022 at 7:11 pm

    Thank you

  12. Sofia Lee

    May 30, 2022 at 7:18 pm

    The potential for fractals are formed by a process of spherical symmetry forming and breaking. The two dimensional surface forms a manifold for the movement of positive and negative charge forming one universal process for factual self-similarities.

  13. Caspar Peham

    May 30, 2022 at 7:45 pm

    For people wanting to know a bit more about Fractals and understand fractal dimension: 3Blue1Brown made a few great videos about it.

  14. sachamm

    May 30, 2022 at 8:27 pm

    In order to understand recursion, one must first understand recursion.

  15. PaintDry

    May 30, 2022 at 8:48 pm

    an algorithmic approach to fractals is easier to understand than a geometric approach. its too bad that he didnt get to that in either of the explanations for the kids

  16. Shepherd Cohen

    May 30, 2022 at 9:29 pm

    Keenan !!? Before you told your name, I thought it’s Lex Luther of Smallville ????

  17. G Dog

    May 30, 2022 at 10:03 pm

    Ok, explain it to me like as if you were speaking to a 5 year old

  18. Alexi Husky

    May 30, 2022 at 10:56 pm

    Astounding that america still gives public office voice to people with such hate guided views and no separation of state and church.

  19. Ron Shvartsman

    May 30, 2022 at 11:21 pm

    Love Keenan Crane. Great video!

  20. anythingorz

    May 30, 2022 at 11:46 pm

    Fractal floral grunge is my favourite design

  21. DwarfWatercraft

    May 30, 2022 at 11:47 pm

    Keenan Crane and Ken Perlin, two absolutely god-tier CG researchers!

    Please can we have one about light transport one day? Maybe Károly Zsolnai-Fehér / Wenzel Jakob / Stephen Hill??

  22. Wladislav

    May 31, 2022 at 12:04 am

    Not understanding the Child level and then immediately skipping to the Expert level.

    • no body

      May 31, 2022 at 4:05 am

      I hope there was a whole lot more to do lessons with the kids than got edited into this video. As it’s shown, not enough was explained clearly.

      And why were there no visual aids of computer generated fractals that when you zoom in they are the same thing infinitely?

  23. Aqil Shamil

    May 31, 2022 at 12:15 am

    Gaston Julia and Benoit Mandelbrot

  24. DXREVELATIONS

    May 31, 2022 at 1:46 am

    so fractals is repetition

  25. random

    May 31, 2022 at 1:47 am

    The Fractal Universe – Mat Zo

  26. Emerald DM

    May 31, 2022 at 1:49 am

    This is a show?

  27. random

    May 31, 2022 at 2:07 am

    fractal happens when you share your Zoom screen and you show Zoom on it.

  28. Kyle Bowles

    May 31, 2022 at 2:24 am

    Wonder what this guy’s Shadertoy username is 😉

  29. Myra Singh (SteamGirl)

    May 31, 2022 at 3:06 am

    Talking about fractals was so much fun! Keenan is awesome!

    • RaJDeep KR.

      May 31, 2022 at 9:21 am

      Hey girl in the video you are so talented congrats

    • Keenan Crane

      May 31, 2022 at 9:34 am

      You’re awesome Myra! Glad you had fun, and hope you continue to be curious about how the world works. ????

  30. Eric Carabetta

    May 31, 2022 at 5:11 am

    Do fractals have any relation to vector computer graphics?

  31. Mahee Gunturu

    May 31, 2022 at 5:52 am

    it would be great if you can compare a Fractal with a Tensor…

  32. ValdemarFromDenmark

    May 31, 2022 at 7:50 am

    This series is the best answer to the classic “how am I going to explain -complicated topic- to my kids?!”

  33. Raynor Tiew

    May 31, 2022 at 8:10 am

    so is it safe to say Unreal Engine 5 is using Fractals as well?

  34. Bettorup

    May 31, 2022 at 9:31 am

    Mandelbrot is the fractal GOAT.

  35. PowerfulPillow

    May 31, 2022 at 10:00 am

    Yo the kids questions feel super forced, like what’s the point of having them on if the aren’t free to actually speak their mind?

  36. Juan Macias

    May 31, 2022 at 10:01 am

    Great expert convo!

  37. AKS YouTube Network

    May 31, 2022 at 11:45 am

    Absolutely love this series. It’s so amazing when the kids understand the concepts.

  38. NATALIE????????**СК МЕ - СНЕℂ???? ???????? Рℝ????????????????Е????

    May 31, 2022 at 12:22 pm

    What I love about intelligent people is their ability to explain what they do well.

  39. ataraxia

    May 31, 2022 at 1:09 pm

    You should check Julius Horsthuis on Youtube for some mind blowing fractal art.

  40. June Wicks

    May 31, 2022 at 4:09 pm

    I love this so much

  41. ATGG

    May 31, 2022 at 10:17 pm

    3:22 Come on… The fudge is that?!

  42. None

    May 31, 2022 at 10:40 pm

    great topic

  43. Manoel Vitor

    May 31, 2022 at 10:56 pm

    incredible explanations

  44. Shanon Settle

    May 31, 2022 at 11:50 pm

    Really no Frozen reference??

  45. Steph Warrick

    June 1, 2022 at 12:30 am

    This is the best 5 Levels video I’ve seen. Dr Crane engages extremely well with each person, elaborating on his explanation as their understanding grows. He’s an incredibly talented teacher.

  46. The States of United America

    June 1, 2022 at 1:34 am

    So basically image plus infinity equals fractal?

  47. m9

    June 1, 2022 at 3:03 am

    WOW. It not more complicated than: its a shape where you can zoom in or out on it and it will look like you are seeing the same thing on the new view. Also, how do you talk about fractals without showing some them some examples? Not one picture of the well known ones? WTF, no wonder it took 20+ minutes… 🙂

  48. Crystal Nam-Rangel

    June 1, 2022 at 5:05 am

    The expert at the end was so good at explaining in detail what fractals are and his examples helped so much.

  49. NovaWarrior77

    June 1, 2022 at 5:14 am

    The college student was a really cool guy.

    • Akhil Aggarwal

      June 3, 2022 at 12:34 pm

      as the college student, im gonna have to agree with you

  50. KernelKraut

    June 1, 2022 at 10:00 am

    I love how level 5 is less of a lecture and more of a forum.

  51. J R

    June 1, 2022 at 11:19 am

    I did research on fractals and b-spline. Crazy how natural patterns are unique yet the same.

    • ekszentrik

      June 2, 2022 at 10:47 am

      It is a hint that the process interpretation of metaphysics is the better bet, compared with an essence or object metaphysics that regards primitive atoms (these can be even wave functions — it’s still more of a concrete thing, closer to an apple, than a process) as the primate constituents of reality.

  52. cindy amanda

    June 1, 2022 at 1:08 pm

    16:30 That outfit drives me Lovegirls.Quest nuts on you and you have that curvy body, you did a good job modelingi it too.

    19:30 Also like the last outfit 22:30 Love how the garter belts connect to the stockings and shear top

  53. US Citizens

    June 1, 2022 at 1:40 pm

    In order to understand recursion you just need to understand recursion.

  54. Timothy Swan

    June 1, 2022 at 2:13 pm

    A fractal explanation of fractals.

  55. Priyanka Sarkar

    June 1, 2022 at 5:39 pm

    the funniest thing was they were talking about ken perlin and then he shows up as the expert lol

  56. David Spector

    June 1, 2022 at 6:18 pm

    One interesting point about measuring a coastline in 1-inch segments: unlike when using very large segments, is that all sorts of interesting and even annoying cases will pop up, where you will be forced to refine and make more complex the definition of “coastline”. By the time you get down to a stable and sensible definition that works in 1-inch segments, the general definition will be very complex, so it can handle many special cases. It may even be impossible to create a general definition that works. In real life, measurement is not necessarily possible. This is especially evident in the very tiny regime where quantum mechanics and virtual particles make meaningful classical measurement impossible.

  57. cwrcwr

    June 2, 2022 at 3:27 am

    Keenan and Ken, two of my favorite people!
    —Craig Reynolds

  58. ekszentrik

    June 2, 2022 at 10:32 am

    >they look at the mundanest of palm trees on the Google
    Mr Putin, please put the West out of its misery.

  59. Internet User

    June 2, 2022 at 4:47 pm

    3blue1brown did an amazing video on Fractal dimension and what fractals really are if you want to learn more. His channel is probably the best math channel on YouTube.

  60. Siderite Zackwehdex

    June 3, 2022 at 11:24 am

    Recursive neural networks are essential to AI, so one might call artificial intelligence fractal and, by extension, our own thinking.

  61. yousif osama

    June 3, 2022 at 11:15 pm

    The first little girl is really smart I hope she grow to become something like that sincerest.

  62. ArchonYT

    June 4, 2022 at 6:00 pm

    An infinitely complex shape

  63. Servant of AlRahman subhanahu wa ta'ala

    June 5, 2022 at 12:06 am

    14:28 _Far beyond the 19th century !_

    Quran 67:3
    Arabic :
    ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ سَبۡعَ سَمَٰوَٰتٍ طِبَاقًاۖ مَّا تَرَىٰ فِى خَلۡقِ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ مِن تَفَٰوُتٍۖ فَٱرۡجِعِ ٱلۡبَصَرَ هَلۡ تَرَىٰ مِن فُطُورٍ

  64. Bethany Lovelace

    June 5, 2022 at 9:20 am

    The college student seemed cringe

  65. Ben Quinney, III

    June 8, 2022 at 3:04 pm

    You don’t understand it yourself

  66. Ben Quinney, III

    June 8, 2022 at 3:24 pm

    Paisley

  67. Maggie Shih

    June 9, 2022 at 3:36 pm

    Dang if only my profs looked and spoke like that????

  68. Lonlon

    June 11, 2022 at 8:11 pm

    This is an example of a teacher that a student will never forget

  69. DANIO

    June 14, 2022 at 1:24 pm

    Fractals are like an ants nest.
    The closer you get, the more ants you see.

  70. unfunnyjulia

    June 14, 2022 at 3:40 pm

    once the experts start talking i completely forget everything i was just taught and get confused again

  71. Misses Witch

    June 14, 2022 at 4:25 pm

    guy before: perlin’s noise

    next guy: Ken Perlin himself.

  72. Kevin Luo

    June 15, 2022 at 3:43 pm

    17:53 Lmao

  73. Onkel Pappkov

    June 21, 2022 at 12:58 pm

    I nerd-laughed when he said: “In order to understand recursion, you need to understand recursion.” I felt a bit of nerd-shame right after.

  74. louderthangod

    June 23, 2022 at 2:18 am

    The second video of these in a row that either mention or have a guitar in them. Musicians taking over STEM!

  75. Madman the pope

    June 23, 2022 at 2:19 am

    You’ll need some sort of redundant AI ran on quantum computing with image recognition software kind of how scientists use it to recognize/ help diginose different types of cancer, to map all the shapes of fractals. If we figure this out it will still be a monumental feat to accomplish. However googles AI is becoming self aware or is running with the idea, maybe it will help if convinced that it will aid AI to improve itself.

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