Body language of trees..

[JAG63]

I found the grammar could be a bit challenging after direct translation from the German, it took me a good few rereadings of some sections before I thought I got the concept being put forward. Could also be my poorly wired brain of course.

[Dan Maynard]

22 hours ago, daltontrees said:

It remains, as far as I am concerned, a useful teaching tool that forces thought about why trees are the way they are.

Seems to me the axiom is useful on the macro scale, say if you stand back from a tall spruce and look at the stem tapering thinner as it goes up. Doesn't work for detailed analysis of complex shapes.

 

There are parallels in science, thinking of Hooke's law and springs, or Ohms law and electrical resistance. Useful "laws" for understanding how things work but plenty of things they don't apply to.

 

I think it's the job of scientists to keep arguing and trying to increase the detail of theories to cover everything. They end up with stuff like quantum mechanics, later on engineers pick out what's useful to get things done in the real world.

 

So I'm waiting for stuff coming from Duncan Slater et al to be filtered by time, until we can see what is useful.