Self Similarity

Benoit Mandelbrot first described a fractal as an object whose detail cannot be diminished nor lost as we magnify it. Neither can the essence of the large entire construct be lost as we examine the smaller and smaller detail of the original. The larger detail of a fractal's entirety is duplicated and contained within the smaller and the smallest subset of the original going down toward infinity and the infinitely small.
Self similarity in nature shows that there is unity in diversity. It shows a pattern of growth that is self-similar rather than evolutionary. In nature (clouds, coastlines etc), growth may be a combination of self-similar, and evolutionary.