KwizMon, Dec 24, 2007 This idea that excruciatingly complex patterns and phenomenon can arise from a simple set of rules is, to say the least, fascinating.
After getting a basic grasp of the established "rules" in the simulation I recommend setting the simulation speed to "hyper" and the cell size to "small." Scatter some dots and let it run.
The difference will eventually be (actually has always been) a difference of speed, the ability to compute faster what everybody else can compute anyway. The universe at large cannot be fully computed by part of it, and if so, given this principle, we can never fully understand the universe, not even ourselves. There are only tiny bubbles of understanding within the vast chaos of patterns.
Trying to perfectly simulate all the events within a closed system using the constituents of that system obviously isn't possible. That's the case with our universe at large, but why can't we fully understand all the internal processes of, say, a human brain? Compared to the size and mass of this universe, several kilograms of electro-chemical circuitry is relatively easy to comprehend.
This idea that excruciatingly complex patterns and phenomenon can arise from a simple set of rules is, to say the least, fascinating.
John Conway's 'Game of Life'
After getting a basic grasp of the established "rules" in the simulation I recommend setting the simulation speed to "hyper" and the cell size to "small." Scatter some dots and let it run.
Trying to perfectly simulate all the events within a closed system using the constituents of that system obviously isn't possible. That's the case with our universe at large, but why can't we fully understand all the internal processes of, say, a human brain? Compared to the size and mass of this universe, several kilograms of electro-chemical circuitry is relatively easy to comprehend.