Ron Eglash: The fractals at the heart of African designs

www.ted.com "I am a mathematician, and I would like to stand on your roof." That is how Ron Eglash greeted many African families he met while researching the fractal patterns hed noticed in villages across the continent.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes -- including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, politics and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at
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[@ShonTolliverMusic]

This is PEAK TED Talk right here.

[@roneglash4891]

I did receive permission from my teacher to make the Bamana algorithm public. The TED format only gives you 17 minutes, and in that time I had to explain what fractal geometry is, how to simulate fractals in African material design, and what the connection is between the fractal design and the indigenous knowledge. So I had to cut a lot of details. I should also mention that the divination priests told me that I was just reading a sentence or two from whole libraries of knowledge; the algorithm itself is just one drop in their recursively infinite bucket.

[@HawaFallay]

Thank you for sharing that. I just want to clarify that these so called fractals and algorithms are indeed in our African DNA. From the Braider to the Architect. Fractals are all over Africa.

[@KillahManjaro]

Great work. Is there a better copy of this video around?

[@theisisreincarnate]

💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗 thank you

[@ladygakga9265]

More knowledge please!!?

[@micknight8158]

@@ladygakga9265 look at Venus.

[@Changeling9au]

Further evidence that "primitive cultures" are anything but primitive. Fascinating!

[@TVwriter23]

Right! Benin city is a good and sad example

[@iArsalan]

Have you ever been to Africa? I'm initiated in a few of the traditions he's mentioned. The divination process of the Ifa priests and the Marabu is a binary system of determinative chaos. It consists of 16 symbols logically compared to make 256 sacred verses. Every fence in Mali is built the same way, a fractal progression that matches wind speed as it rises from the ground. He showed photos of this and conscious fractal arrangements in city planning. What greater evidence do you need?

[@hailie_Selassie]

Why sharing our secrets with whites though?

[@kim1570]

@@hailie_Selassie Don't worry, the keepers of that information are very careful as to who to reveal the info to, and how much to reveal. I'm a Kikuyu from Kenya, and my tribe has a similar priest class that protects scientific knowledge that baffles the mind. Most traditional African cultures have a similar 'keepers of knowledge' group of people.

[@jaquanpendelton4757]

@@hailie_Selassie this is light work

[@Trumblebee]

@@kim1570 👀 can you tell me more about this or point me in the direction of a few sources? I’m kikuyu as well and very interested in our history

[@benicl1]

That was inspirational, i'm from West Africa but been living in London all my life and its fantastic to see that and know that fractals contributed to the world in such a fundamental way, if not pracitically then philosophically. I am amazed, these video's need better marketing.

[@isaiah4600]

the patterns are practical and beautiful.

[@villachfhkaernten]

@@isaiah4600 I have known this for a long time. The Afa divination uses the fractals.

[@sarahhunter9896]

This is one of the best videos I've seen.

[@lexlutherk1ng97]

I was only interested in the maths. Its not just about singing and dancing. Interesting view into the way eurocentric perspectives value another culture's knowledge and how they achieved it.

[@TVwriter23]

Every culture is like this when it comes to other cultures. In anthropology it's called ethnocentrism

[@zadh]

I got your point, Alexis. Once he was telling for a white audience in major, he was dealing with their own misconceptions on African history and epistemology. So he refer to "singing and dancing" as the metaphor of colonial racism stereotypes. In other hand, there he goes showing that Math is a human science in a deep sense.

[@MsGnor]

OMG, this was just a fabulous presentation. Can't believe Dec 2007 ... still rocking!! Brought here by the love of Benoit :)

[@jubileemama2000]

wow,wow, wow, and double wow!! my people never cease to amaze me!!

[@yiquanawalkb4run26]

hello there, you just inspired me to comment here....fractal geometric mapped beings go deeper beneath all continent's and skin colourings, from 'my' people to 'our' people of the world....'Kun Feya Kun'...God says 'BE' and so it is.....peace

[@yasinabaka]

Infinite Afrikan genius!

[@opssstore589]

مصطفي دين

[@martialkintu2035]

yasina baka There is no infinity among humans.

[@zadh]

@@martialkintu2035 Tell it to the fractals

[@ImRyanReno]

He described the mathematics behind their method, I don't think he divulged any spiritual or cultural secrets. As far as I could tell, it seemed he was respectful toward that culture.

[@imelmshi239]

He did tell about what he had to do during the initiations trying to mock it in front of the audience but they didn't laugh...this is not respect

[@kim1570]

@@imelmshi239 No, he wasn't mocking the ritual process. He only mentioned those things he had to do as a by-the-way and tried to do it with some humour. He was very respectful in the way he did the talk. As one African to another, don't look for slights and insults from every European that speaks on African culture where there are none.

[@onigbajamo]

@@kim1570 Not Africans standing up for colonizers 😒

[@MrBlaqgold]

A great video. Shame some posters are unable to see beyond their prejudices and celebrate the diversity of human philosophy.

[@gement]

I was really impressed with his cultural respect until the bit where he says "they inducted me into their religion to trust me with this knowledge so here it is in a powerpoint." :( Other than that, this is really awesome.

[@meunomejaestavaemuso]

+gement I don't think that's a bad thing, he was showing how amazing it was and since he had a math background that was all he found. Don't get me wrong, but he was more interested in the math bit than the religion since the beginning.

[@iArsalan]

African initiation ceremonies are secret and initiates are bound to secrecy. The way he blows off the details of the ceremony is actually how a native African might speak dismissively of their traditions as to guard its secrets.

I had the same experience @gement

[@imelmshi239]

@Barry Manilowa I don't think any Euorpeans initiated to any rituals making TED videos about their knowledge, it's just history repeating itself with this, and all know that

[@EnigmaticBiker]

Fascinating blend of cultures, art, craft and mathematics, Great video.

[@danichaniche]

Glad to have come in contact with this video after about 15 years. I'm a graduate of Mathematics and I'm happy seeing mathematicians doing big things. Kudos 👍

[@FyjoMolly]

Dr. Eglash please look at ancient Chinese mathematics and The Book of Change. We also used binary calculations on geometry and astrologies. One and two(Yin and Yang) composed the infinity of the universe. Love your study, very informative

[@ZeiBeatz]

yellow river civilization? I always thought that African nomads tribe that carried that knowledge to that region hence the similarities between the oracle bones glyphs and African glyphs?

[@kim1570]

@@ZeiBeatz This makes a lot of sense, especially when you consider that the Khoe-San peoples were the first to migrate to the oriental world. Just google the oracle bones glyphs and compare the similarities with the stylistic way the Khoe-San drew their cave art.

[@ZeiBeatz]

@@kim1570 big facts

[@themonitoringgroup4956]

A brilliant mathematican who Now’s a lot about architecture as well he should teach mathematics in England in schools at Oxford university

[@LegitSharker]

Well I think the point is that they let him in on what was going on because he already had an understanding of fractal patterns, and since that is common knowledge in our society already I don't think it's a big deal. Also, what he shared was only a small part of the ceremony, as he described it. I certainly couldn't sit down and recreate this entire ceremony if I tried.

[@imelmshi239]

Of course, but it was the same for Pythagore and Thales and so on, initiation in Egypt (spiritual rites = knowlegde)...they write the history books and give their names on their discovery...you shouldn't get the wrong idea about this, he's still condescending when he speaks about initiation, let's stop accepting disrespect of our cultures...It doesn't mean he's a wrong person but it does mean he knows his purpose in doing this

[@iArsalan]

So let me get this straight. To know anything about myself as an African is to be "bias[ed] for a particular race" but would I be biased if all I had were European interpretations on my profile page? What's tragic about this is that you're allowing your own bias to blind you from deeper truths. These African systems present fractals and mathematics at the very core of their cosmology and religion. Besides, what evidence do you have to the contrary or to back your indictment of the speaker?

[@WarzSchoolchild]

A well deserved 'Standing Ovation'. Next time KZbinrs upgrade your notebook computer, please consider making a gift of the old one to an African College. If as Ron Eglash says, 'Binary Notation' started there, those bright kids deserve our generosity.

[@daleallender1303]

Amazing!

[@homekissed2351]

That was awesome! And I've always found fractals to be very fascinating, Have you ever played with a fractal generator? Thanks for sharing this.

[@africaincorp]

This is one of the best videos

[@Awbrfg55]

Wonderful!

[@oridniv]

This is the foundation of all infinite possibilities affecting each other. Proves further that nothing is unaccounted for in this universe and it all affects everything else therefore be careful about supporting your own opinions, you could be defending your own ignorance and not see the infinity in everything of everything within everything of everything :)

[@Nadine4266]

oridniv wise words ❤️

[@KomonHouseholdObjex]

I think you are an pretty cool guy. You always take things literally and doesn't afraid of anything.

[@xjaskix]

awesome stuff! *instant subscribe*

[@VIK_1903]

This shit is amazing! Outstanding!

[@KomonHouseholdObjex]

Good for him.

[@dzauthor]

For weather geeks, #9:41 begins a conversation of how fractal design is applied to wind engineering

[@nitul26]

can someone paste the link to the software for producing such algorithms. I would be happy to use it :) Thanks

[@yashvardhansharma3899]

Have u found something?

[@scrollpeace2485]

cameroon😁. also recently at gbatoro we found one of the early iron furnace.

[@LegitSharker]

Yes,

[@ElectricAscension]

Great video. Does anyone have the adress of the site he was talking about? The one with the applets..

[@alexrediger2099]

No ted talk can end without self-promotion and supposed world - changing

[@a.randomjack6661]

Ever since I was introduced to Fractals by Arthur C Clarke, I see them everywhere, from the far reaches of space and time, to biology, weather and human behavior to name a few. Fractals is one of the most important concept to grasp on the knowledge trail. Although I know it's everywhere, I didn't know it could be found there, and much less it would of have been intentionally designed so long ago. Just shows what daydreamers can achieve if they have enough day dreaming time. Lucky Ron Eglash pointed out one more of my misconceptions. Thank you!

[@MartinDxt]

in some sense yes since electron clouds are standing waves in 3D (like a standing wave in 1D or 2D which are really cool) and repeat for each resonance frequency as you get nearer to the nucleus. The term electron cloud is somehow misleading think of it as a 3D standing wave and you'll get a much better idea of it :D

[@JeromeMatthewLam]

Does anyone knows what software did he use to generate fractals

[@iArsalan]

Interesting how the weak mind responds to what it can't refute by attacking something completely irrelevant to the point.

[@KomonHouseholdObjex]

It happens because of dry mouth, which happens from being nervous, which happens from public speaking, which happens.... ITS A FRACTAL, MAN.

[@GregoryFesto]

he says you can go to their website... but never mentions the website. anyone know what it is?

[@westmichaelc]

so do electron clouds and atoms form self-forming patterns? ;)

[@thedillestpickle]

can someone help explain where the second column of 4 symbols comes from in his diagram of the pseudorandom generator there are 4 rows each ending with a symbol either a 1 or a 1 1 next to this column is another column of symbols but where do these come from initially?

[@sonofthealchemist]

haha.... awkward silence at 14:55

[@tonyrosam]

Africa Is our forgotton mother. We need to praise her and make sure she is healthy. This feeling for africa is also fractal to your biological mother. i dont mean this in a scientific sense, but emotional. WE NEED TO HEAL AFRICA!!

[@rmeddy]

What is the name of that program?

[@usikuwrites]

The obvious about true history speaks for itself. The less obvious that was briefly stated is that human life is best when it incorporates nature on larger and larger levels and smaller and smaller levels.

[@MaNaturalWhispers]

There is no such thing as a concept such as "zero" being "unknown" and ONE person "coming up" with the concept. Mathematics is a reflection of NATURE. It is based off of universal, natural law and therefore, it is inevitable that different people, in different parts of the world...and at different times would "discover" the concept and apply it. Also the "Arabics" that brought us certain mathematical concepts were not really "Arabic", they were Moors (Berber tribe of North Africa)

[@yiquanawalkb4run26]

thank you, this makes everything so clear to me now, it is self-evidence speaking...last night in a dream I was taken through a series of tests by experts into INTENTION, I will cut the long story short, but that the experts didn't know through their methods how to dig deep enough and then I met a very laid back African man who recognized who I was deep within by his strong intuition resonation and I burst out of myself saying " I am a black woman beneath my skin and am from an African tribe that lives by the fractal geometric map"(outwardly I'm a white British Muslim who within prays beneath a giant tree whose branches spread across the whole of Africa that has a big X on the ground representing Malcolm).....brings me to your 2020 timely TED talk, thank you...I am a fractal geometrist....whilst practicing deep breathing I find my invisible self to be inside the egg of the world and as I breathe, cities are sliding and sloping on top of the surface of the world's circumference, it's all happening in sync back to the nucleus just at a time when the new vaccines for covid are set through electric pulse to split and introduce something into our cells to bring about a further divide and rule dictate, saved by the bell as I think of Meister Eckhart and Echart Tolle, all the best and thank you

[@youssoubarro1671]

Pourquoi vous avez fait disparaitre la partie la plus intéressante

[@TrevorEhrgood]

mclovin is poppin off here

[@islandbuoy4]

p.s. kinshasa orchestra is two thumbs up

[@jaredtkatz]

@JeromeMatthewLam im wondering the same thing

[@Terrible_Peril]

the ideas were taken and implemented for different things because different social groups have different wants and needs specific to their circumstances and systems. simple ideas, with differing outside influences, creates beautiful variety. don't think of it as theft of an idea, or else the humans originating in africa, stole from nature by being born.

[@79898325]

What are you talking about? Are you saying fractals are imagined?

[@user-pg2hd4pu5n]

😘😘😚😚

[@BestBeatMakerEver]

Glad they didn't give all of their secrets. This is what has harmed them in the past. May they stay safe even letting this knowledge out. They are more in tune with nature and that which is natural. The sad thing is they take the Natural and make it unnatural and often it causes harm.

[@stevencarr4002]

And African people were using colour dyes longer before a Westerner like Isaac Newton showed that light was a combination of different colours.

[@jtaylor9271]

Math was born in Africa.

[@atwilliams8]

@Zak Jansen grow up.. Google the Ishango bone...

[@podes2204]

@@atwilliams8 Don't bother explaining colors to people who are born blind. @Zak Jansen probably thinks he is descendant from god. Poor thing.

[@tshidi129]

Umm, yeah!!! Of course!

[@amanslife360]

This how we built our space ships - using fractal generating [maths] we built fracatal generating sytems that enabled us to traval across our galaxy many sols ago. It's how you will build yours, one day.

[@ballybing]

This is really interesting, but a bit upsetting in the way Mr. Eglash handled the telling of the Bamana sand divination. They were wary about sharing a secret spiritually sacred to them, and yet trusted this man anyways and took the time to get him through the ritual required to be able to learn about it. Then he unashamedly goes and shares it with the entire world. I liked the talk but I'm apologetic towards any Bamana people for the way he disregarded the sacrosanct of their culture.

[@benitobenitez5975]

Why should this be a secret?

[@Sagitarria]

he didn't share the secret stuff in this talk. everything he did share has been out in global knowledge since the 1700s.

[@theisisreincarnate]

Its a secret because it sacred

[@Boiblu1914]

If you read the book you'd see that they openly shared the information when he demonstrated how similar their concurrent systems were.

[@chandruarni]

Ally Bing *ff

[@grahamjarman]

i find it interesting people racking their brain to define and find god yet neglecting the improvement we as humans need to do here and now on earth

[@IAMME000]

i think georg cantor had the right idea about seeing god as a fractal. the universe (god) is possibly a self-perpetuated, endlessly expanding fractal, rather than a counscious deity separate from us. just a thought....

[@thinkpad20]

Fascinating. I suppose the history of mathematics might have been very different if some of these African cultures had had a system of organized study and scholarship like Europe did.

[@kim1570]

Actually, we did have such structured systems of study, the most popular one being the old civilization of Mali at Timbuktu. It was the educational and intellectual Mecca of Africa at the time. Many of the manuscripts survive even till this day.

[@TermiNation_45669.]

@@kim1570 Have those manuscripts been digitized, translated and made available to everyone yet.

[@kityac9810]

@@TermiNation_45669. That digitization effort has actually been going on for several years now. St John's University partnered with SAVAMA-DCI in order to do it. There are literally thousands of manuscripts available from it at this point. But it's still an uphill battle to get all of the remaining items scanned due to some political unrest in Mali, along with the ever present sands of time.

[@TermiNation_45669.]

@@kityac9810 That's good, I hope that one day soon they all get digitized and fully translated. Can't afford to lose all that history. I once heard someone say that these manuscripts have the potential to rewrite the entire history of west Africa. I don't know how true that is but I can't wait to find out when the work is all done.

[@xinavaneify]

Very interesting. It confirms what many of our Africentric scholars have been revealing over the last few decades. The principles are underlying the Ausarian spiritual path of KMT (Ancient Egypt) as well as west African spiritual paths such as Yoruba scientific system. Too bad he still can't grasp that it is connected to DNA.

[@playwright5037]

to say it's in the DNA is to undermine the ingenuity, creativity and effort of African people. leeeaavee itt

[@usamahwelsh3922]

+Playwright very true i agree a hundred percent it felt like he tried to discredit the people by saying it's not the dna then wat is it

[@Nadine4266]

I believe it must be in the DNA, and ya pale folks are lacking in that part, because we are the Gentiles and God’s special Hebrews are most black and brown people. Praise YAH He is nothing like Satan, nothing like the rich rulers of this world. He is opposite.

[@kim1570]

Speaking of DNA (and this might be a wide reach but..), is it just me or was anyone else reminded of the graphic representation of DNA base pairs when they saw those Bamana binary lines of divination in the sand??

[@xinavaneify]

@@playwright5037 Please re-read my comment. I did not write what you said or inferred. I said it was "connected" to DNA; that's not putting sole responsibility or authorship to it. Neither does it undermine our Afrikan ingenuity, creativity, or effort.

[@lionzion22]

What you say about New Orleans shows your narrow mind and incompetence when it comnes to what I intially said. Don't you know Amsterdam also had a catastrophic flood? Not only did they rebuild, but they also improved their levee system. Not being above sea level was NOT the cause of the N.O. catastrophe. As for blaming those within a society and telling them to "help yourself"...I wonder if you also have these words for 1940s Germany and modern Israel.

[@MuXaL1ch]

no one gave him one =(

[@lionzion22]

no home is safe from extreme weather or crime. It's also not safe from whatever government you pay taxes to. There is always a larger force than yourself, whether it be elemental or human, and you just may have to put your life on the line. Plain and simple. As for Zimbabwe, the model for corruption over democracy was established decades ago and long before Mugabe. Until that root cause is addressed thoroughly, what you see now will always be the outcome.

[@ghelyar]

He went through the initiation ritual for priests just to work out that they used a cyclic xor? This guy has never met cryptography, has he?

[@goyavesETmangues]

i meant threatened

[@islandbuoy4]

Ron FAILS around 7:03 he states "only the African ones were fractal." It appears Ron E. and ME are using a different definition for fractal. I thought Fibonacci ratios = phi were related to fractals? IF phi is related to fractals then his next statement @7:23 certainly suggests he does not have a clue about how the indigenous Anasazi would have recorded their fractal awareness >>> phi geometry at the small scale is rectangular and then as it expands as a spiral it becomes more circular.

[@islandbuoy4]

@ 13:25 Ron E. makes another questionable statement and claims it as FACT. History shows Leibniz gave credit to the I Ching as a binary system that predated his, and the development of the I Ching comes well before the 12th century alchemy and geomancy. Thus every digital circuit of the world may have started in China not the continent of Africa. But if you see DNA as a potential algorithm then the start may have been in Africa but later developed in China on a larger self similar scale.

[@etianevian513]

**lip smacks**

[@123bigr]

allfract-The truth is what it is. You have to really try hard to get something negative from this video. The man found this in Africa and his conclusion is based on that and other findings. He looked at other locations and he even said some Africans did not have a clue about fractals. What location do you want him to be schmoozy over?What do you have to contradict his findings? Get a life. Greed = destruction of someone, that is capitalism at its best

[@HawaFallay]

The fact that he is saying that these Africans have no clue about fractals yet their societies, life structure and respect for life is based on fractals is white supremacy. He said himself that fractals weren't really studied in the west until 1970s. Why is it so hard to give credit to Africans? Why can't it be in their DNA? Maybe that would make them appear genetically advanced and their heritage is not just about "singing and dancing" which he so readily dismissed. He even mentions how Google has benefited from these algorithms. Are the Africans benefitting? Are they being given opportunity to share their knowledge or charity in the form of a summer camp?

[@imelmshi239]

​@@HawaFallay You are right, most of us don't know because most of us are not initiated because most of us are colonized by religions !The religions is a FENCE to traditionnal knowledge cause it "demonize" them and as our people is the most spiritual do the math!That is also the purpose of colonization, that's how some people claim that Africans have no knowledge nor history...they get initated to share it EVER SINCE PYTHAGORE at least lol...but nothing last forever :)

[@personaladvisorytv]

He states some is pure intuition based on his observations. We believe its more than some or all. He can't say some have no clue if he hasn't observed every aspect that fractals could have been applied. There fact that the cost benefit design matched wind and speed by mere observation of the wind is still highly intuitive. Its like drawing a perfect circle without a compass and reinforces the connection that African peoples have to all to earth and science.

[@phaecesmars871]

dry mouth

[@lekgotlatgae5955]

‘It’s just intuition, Africans cant be really using fractals’.. 🥱.. man we had did long before y’all caught on

[@onigbajamo]

Ikr? That rubbed me the wrong way

[@phaviezikode7016]

I wanna say he was being sarcastic but I'm not sure🤔

[@islandbuoy4]

Here is another FAIL by the PhDuh Ron E. He is correct about the Native Americans using circular and four-fold symmetry, but he FAILS to mention the asymmetry of the swastika and the asymmetry of the spiral are more congruent with phi spiral motifs. And the distinction must be made between the perfect symmetry displayed by the circle and the imperfect circles most medicine wheels actually are along with many of the 'henges' like Stonehenge which was asymmetric. TBC > asymmetric DNA *wink*

[@onigbajamo]

Lots of hotepry in the comments.

[@Terrible_Peril]

theft is stealing of property. we're talking about aesthetics and ideas that adapted over time. i agree that africa has been oppressed and resources stolen, that continues to this day. but you're not even making a coherent statement.

[@TheAtheist22]

Fractals can even be found in kids drawing, who have just been doodling. That is Not mathematics. He's supposed to be a mathematician? And who are the ones who "studied" those patterns? Europeans.

[@hannityforpres]

@ddsharper Are you kidding?? You can't even teach black kids fractions. They don't get it.