John Conway Talks About the Game of Life Part 1

http://thinkorthwim.com/2007/05/27/jo...

Excerpt from BBC Channel 4
What we Still Don't Know: Are We Real?
http://www.channel4.com/science/micro...
The intro is by Sir Martin Rees.


The game of life:
http://www.math.com/students/wonders/...

• Category

  Entertainment

[Omer Kirkagaclioglu]

It is not that the results are predictable, the fascinating idea is that from 3 or 4 simple rules complex structures can develop, which in turn is very different from the idea that something as complex as life must be created by something other than a few simple mechanisms.

[holleridio]

I never understood peoples' fascination with GoL. Sure it's neat and fun to look at but drawing any parallels to real life seems like a stretch.

Rules simple - results unpredictable? I think not. A GoL universe is about as deterministic as they get. How some people can attempt to use it to argue FOR free will escapes me.

[bassmajor]

very well said. The rules are more fascinating than the outcome itself. I mean, imagine if the very basic formulas of reality would be different and things like 1+1=2 weren't true.

[DerrenBrown100]

There is no God(s)

[DerrenBrown100]

There is no God(s)

[priced80]

Ha ha good point. Let's face it, we don't know if someone designed the universe or not. It is highly likely though that if they did then they would have designed only the rules and not the outcomes.

[girlsloveme584]

.sj

[A Ki]

THANK YOU

[Daryl Pinksen]

The particular structures did not have a designer, but the particular cocktail of rules -- physical laws--which allowed them to come into being were carefully chosen. There was nothing arbitrary, purposeless, or random about the initial conditions chosen by the mathematicians. That they were surprised, and delighted, to see what their microcosm gave birth to provides a reason for their creation.

[Jack Laurence]

I guess I would be clearer to say 'logical'.