ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a new scientific metaphor to tickle the psychology for the imagination. This model derives from fractal geometry, a branch of mathematics whose applications cut across the physical, biological, and social sciences. Fractal geometry falls in an area of mathematics popularly called chaos theory, which is the study of nonlinear system dynamics. The utility of chaos theory is in its ability to disclose hidden order underlying nonlinear events that appear random or chaotic on the surface, like eddies in a stream or patterns of weather. An important discovery of chaos theory is that it does not take a large number of variables for a system to generate complex behavior. Even a system with a few variables may, under certain conditions, display highly complex, erratic behavior. Fractals are closely linked to chaos theory. The geometry of chaotic systems over time reveals a fractal structure in space.
