fractal marketing 

Fractal marketing is the process by which a product or service is promoted through modern electronic media and is subsequently picked up and scattered by potential consumers.

Whereas viral marketing presupposes that a consumer is infected with the intended message, fractal marketing reflects that the consumer modifies the message: it's still part of the snowflake's pattern, just a unique piece of it.

An example of fractal marketing would be Apple's Switch campaign of 2002 and Ellen Feiss's subsequently marketed web identity. They are affiliated, they are part of the same pattern, but this outcome could not be predicted by Apple.

fractal marketing by Olwen Lloyd December 12, 2008

Fractal Asshole 

A person who is an asshole at any distance. When you get closer and closer to them there's just more asshole. Likewise, as you get further away from them they are still an asshole.

Evan was such a fractal asshole to the girls in his first year at Lewis & Clark, that they all made sure to tell their friends and the incoming freshmen not to sleep with him.

Fractal Asshole by LCgirlscheatedonbyEvan June 5, 2013

Fractal Fail

A fail that causes a fail that causes a fail. A fail within a fail within a fail. In short, a self-similar, self replicating and non-terminating fail.

John and Bob walk out of geometry class.
John (to Bob): ...and it was like FAIL!
random person: (accidentally bumps into John) I'm sorry!
Bob: O.o
John: I...wasnt saying that to you...
random person: ....wait, what?
bob: fail
John: lol, I didnt even notice they bumped into me!
bob: and you said fail at the same time xD
John: and they thought I said fail to them
bob: yeah, and it was like...FAIL
john: lol, yeah, a fail within a fail!
(random person walks off)
Bob: yeah, but Im pretty sure that they didnt hear you say fail...
John: really? another fail...
Bob: fail...
(and so on...)
Another geometry student: it's a fractal fail!

Fractal Fail by todellisus April 12, 2011

Fractal acronym 

An acronym that could be infinitely repeated in one or more of the shortened words.

"Pie", both the acronym for and a word in the acronym "Pie is Everything", would the the basis of the fractal acronym "P(ie)i(s)e(verything)Is Everything".

Fractal acronym by Sean Golden July 16, 2008

fractal problem 

frac·tal prob·lem

/ˈfraktəl ˈpräbləm/

a problem that―when you try to solve it―you just keep encountering more and more problems

I was fixing my rusted brake line and it turned out to be a fractal problem with having to then fix leaks and still having fixing to do

fractal problem by TheTallestPsychonaut October 27, 2021

fractal racism 

When an individual undermines the validity/significance behind a person or group's efforts with the intent of categorizing them by their race.

"Hey you see that guy, he's so talented at his sport"
"Not really, he's just black, that's what they're good at."

"Hey man that's fractal racism"

fractal racism by Diego brazilla November 13, 2022

Fractal Engineering

The discipline of designing structures, systems, and algorithms that are intentionally fractal to optimize properties like surface area, fault tolerance, bandwidth, or mechanical strength. Fractal Engineering moves beyond analysis (measuring fractal dimension) to synthesis (building fractal forms). It includes designing hierarchical ventilation systems for buildings, fractal flow distributors for chemical reactors, self-similar power grids for resilience, and recursive cooling channels for fusion reactors. It's manufacturing nature's favorite geometry.

Fractal Engineering Example: A fractal fluid mixer engineered for a pharmaceutical reactor isn't a simple pipe; it's a tree-like cascade of branching channels, each bifurcation splitting flow to maintain constant velocity and mixing efficiency across scales. The engineer didn't just copy a lung; they computed the optimal fractal dimension and branching ratio for the fluid's viscosity and flow rate. This is Fractal Engineering: building systems that breathe like lungs, branch like trees, and perfuse like capillaries, because evolution perfected those designs over eons.

Fractal Engineering by Dumu The Void February 11, 2026