Fractal: Difference between revisions

A [[fractal]] is a geometrical figure, each part of which has the same statistical character as the whole. Fractals are useful in modelling structures (such as [[snowflake]]s)<ref>I don’t think they mean ''that'' kind of [[snowflake]], Dad.</ref> in which the same patterns recur at progressively smaller scales, and in describing partly random or chaotic phenomena such as crystal growth and galaxy formation.  

The fractal is also a useful [[metaphor]] to describe the [[legal eagle]]’s approach to [[risk]]-management through the medium of the legal [[contract]], and the magnetic attraction that [[legal eagle]]s feel towards [[negotiation oubliette]]s. The more [[Anal paradox|powerful]] the lens with which you look at it, the more risk you will see.

Imagine we have seen and flattened out just such a kink, perhaps applying an unguent “[[notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the foregoing contained]]”, or some such placatory wording. For should one screw down the resolution on the [[ESPER machine]] to zoom in on that flattened kink — to make sure it is nice and straight now — we see to our consternation that ''there is a little kink in the middle of the old kink''. For this kink is a ''fractal''. However close we go; however elaborate our means of fixing the last kink, as we descend into [[the weeds]] to check our engineering, we will find further, smaller kinks.  

Now note what is happening here: as we approach that asymptotic point of intolerable [[tedium]] (the tiniest measurable particle of which is the [[Biggs hoson]], by the way), at the same time the legal superstructure we create to eradicate this ineradicable imperfection grows ever less wieldy. ''We are creating a monster''. What is worse, we may pass through an [[event horizon]], beyond which there is no [[Lexophysics|lexophysical]] way out: we are sucked ever onward by the overwhelming gravitational forces inside a [[negotiation oubliette]]. We are compelled to continue even to our destruction, dashed on the infinitesimal, pointless rocks of [[tedium]], propelled by the colossal weight of the markup we have generated.

There are some famous examples. [[Clifford Chance]] famously created its own little neutron star trying [[Extraordinary rendition|to define what ''wasn’t'' a company]] in a Luxembourg [[netting opinion]] in 2021. Some say that, in the centrifugally exploding spiral disc shape of the [[2018 ISDA Credit Support Deed for Initial Margin]], the heroic pedants of {{icds}} finally bit off more than they could chew and created a galaxy-sized black hole, into which the entire financial system may already, for all we know, have fallen.

Even great catastrophes have their roots in innocuous trifles. Now, trifles do not get more innocuous than [[tri-party collateral arrangement]]s, so it is fun to see how fractal arguments can arise even in this kind of ''soufflé''. Indemnities, for example, are a common fractal trigger. Even harmless ones.