May 26 2010

It’s Crop Circle Season

I have to admit, I love crop circles. I think they are a compelling art form. So I have anticipated for many years the coming of crop circle season in the Spring. Circle makers have really progressed the art form tremendously.

Here is the first one I have seen so far:

The theme seems to be mathematical – a common theme. The implication is that aliens are trying to communicate to use through the use of math and music, of course they never seem to teach us anything – just copy established mathematics. But it does represent the utility of math in producing beautiful symmetry in art.

Crop circles pretty much have to be mathematical – the mechanisms used to make them by necessity result in geometric shapes with mathematical relationships. It’s like using the Spirograph, and then marveling at the perfect symmetry and mathematical relationships of the resulting work.

Here is a funny account by a person claiming to have made the famous Avebury crop circle. It is all about technique, and circle makers have improved the craft over the years so that following a few simple procedures can produce amazing results. (Not unlike many art forms.)

I continue to admire crop circles as an art form, while chuckling a the true believers who have such little faith in human ingenuity (or such a desire to believe in the fantastical) that they conclude they could not have been the work of humans.

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As always, I also post on Science Based Medicine on Wednesdays.

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