Expanding Universe

Just a few days ago I was thinking about quantum mechanics and the differences and similarities between atoms and galaxies, quarks and planets and like that. During the course of my thinking I was reminded of the stereotypical stoner college student saying, "Dude, what if the earth is just an electron and the sun is a neutron and we're all part of a molecule in some dude's finger." And then I encountered a Mandelbrot set after not thinking of them in years.

Mandelbrot Fractal Set Zoom To E71 - Funny blooper videos are here
Similar shapes and structures throughout yet no two are identical and the complexity continues through all magnifications both increasing and decreasing. And then I see a report on a nano scale light bulb that can be used to test the differences between the quantum realm and the thermodynamic realm. The rules of these two domains do not play well together, to say the least. And then I'm looking at the Astronomy Picture of the Day (or APOD) and see this picture of the Eskimo Nebula.

Y'know what it looks like to me? It looks just like the first moments of a nuclear explosion.


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Is it all a matter of scale? Are there really different rules as scale changes? Is it just a matter of not understanding how time acts in relation to scale? Gosh, I wish I was smart enough to figure this stuff out.