# Mathematics

*Fractals, higher-order structure, and the proofs that feel inevitable once you see them. Self-similarity as a way of thinking.*

![Mandelbrot](/figures/mandelbrot.svg)![Mandelbrot](/figures/mandelbrot-dark.svg)

Topic · Mandelbrot

Fractals, higher-order structure, and the proofs that feel inevitable once you see them. Self-similarity as a way of thinking.

3 pieces

-   **Essay** Oct 10, 2026 [Simple rules, whole societies](/writing/simple-rules-whole-societies)
    
    Three local rules give you a murmuration. Slightly different rules give you a stampede. The rules between agents deserve the same care as the capabilities inside them.
    
    [AI and agents](/topics/agents) [Optimization](/topics/optimization)
    
-   **Research** Apr 1, 2026 [Chitrakāvya: poems that are programs](/chitrakavya)
    
    Sanskrit poets encoded knight's tours, magic squares and palindromic surfaces into verse, a thousand years before Euler. The archive, with the tour you can step through.
    
    [Chitrakāvya](/topics/chitrakavya)
    
-   **Nyāya** Apr 21, 2024 [Where there is smoke](/darsana/nyaya)
    
    The school of how we know and how we argue: four roads to knowledge, one shape for every inference, and a complete catalogue of the ways a losing opponent cheats.
    
    [Philosophy](/topics/philosophy) [AI and agents](/topics/agents)
    

Other topics

-    [![Descent](/figures/descent.svg)![Descent](/figures/descent-dark.svg) Optimization](/topics/optimization)
-    [![Phyllotaxis](/figures/phyllotaxis.svg)![Phyllotaxis](/figures/phyllotaxis-dark.svg) Beauty](/topics/beauty)
-    [![Society](/figures/society.svg)![Society](/figures/society-dark.svg) AI and agents](/topics/agents)
-    [![A tree](/figures/tree.svg)![A tree](/figures/tree-dark.svg) Philosophy](/topics/philosophy)
-    [![Stillness](/figures/stillness.svg)![Stillness](/figures/stillness-dark.svg) Yoga and the mind](/topics/mind)
-    [![Interference](/figures/interference.svg)![Interference](/figures/interference-dark.svg) Science and technology](/topics/science)
-    [![Knight's tour](/figures/tour.svg)![Knight's tour](/figures/tour-dark.svg) Chitrakāvya](/topics/chitrakavya)
-    [![A walk](/figures/walk.svg)![A walk](/figures/walk-dark.svg) The human experience](/topics/human)

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