Highly recommended related material: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1APOxsp1VFw
Game of life program: Click the "Enjoy Life" button in the top-left corner at: http://www.ibiblio.org/lifepatterns/
Particles in container program: http://mozza314.webs.com/circleBox.htm
GenePool evolution simulation: http://www.swimbots.com/
Gravity simulation: http://mozza314.webs.com/gravity.html
Music used in intro: "Unexpected Little Happenings" - UltraCat
Transcript:
The abstract is a vast concept. In it we are able to define anything, and I mean anything, we like. It is possible, indeed often easy, to define abstract systems which change over time. It is not necessary to individually define the state of such a system at every particular moment in time, instead the state of the system can be determined by a defined behaviour, and we can simply compute the state of the system at any given time. For example consider a system based on the binary expansion of the irrational number, pi. Let's say the system is in the 'on' state during the nth second if the nth binary digit of pi is 1, and the system is in the 'off' state during the nth second if the nth binary digit is 0. We know that this system would be in the 'off' state during it's first two seconds, would be 'on' for it's third second, etc. . We also know that this system would be 'off' during it's quadrillionth second, but it is not known what state the system would be in during the previous second. However, we can be sure that it is definitely 'on' or definitely 'off' during this second whether we calculate it or not.
Here's a system which is a model similar to particles bouncing off each other in a container, the motion is not realistic as there is no transfer of energy between the particles, but it was not my intention to be realistic, it's an abstract system in its own right regardless of how realistic it is.
This is Jon Conway's game of life. It is made up of cells where blue means alive and white means dead. In each step, a live cell with less than two, or more than 3 live neighbours dies, and a dead cell with exactly three live neighbours comes alive. For example this cell I've marked with a green dot has three live neighbour cells, so in the next step or as it's sometimes called the next generation, it will become alive. Similarly all the cells marked in green will come alive and all the cells marked in red will be dead in the next step. This deceptively simple definition leads to a complex abstract system, this simulation has been set up so that the system generates prime numbers, marked by the groups of live cells which escape off the left of the screen.
Here's another example of an abstract system, a simple gravity simulation with a planet moving around two fixed bodies.
I conjecture, although expect I am not the first to do so, that there are many abstract systems, abstract worlds, in which the complex interactions at some or many times contain structures that we would identify as creatures as they would behave, interact and even think and be self-aware. I would not expect us to have the computational resources to see it on our own computer screens in the forseeable future, but just like the uncalculated binary digits of pi, they are there whether we calculate them or not.
As to whether or not we would be the God of such a world would depend upon the definition of the term 'God' and the answer to the age-old question of whether mathematics is invented or discovered. As an aside, I think the God title fails for both reasons.
It is an active area of interest in physics to uncover a theory of everything, and if they succeed, we would have an abstract system which behaves identically to the real world. The question I am asking you may now be obvious - do we live in an abstract world? But is there actually any meaning to that question?
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OK, if I've understood the question correctly, I'm going to have a field day with it. Thanks Mozza.
Orygyn 2 years ago
Great video! This is what I try to explain ALL THE TIME, calling it chaos theory, dynamical systems, nonlinear dynamics, iterative systems, etc. Everything in the universe behaves this way. Of course there is no self contained system other than the entire universe itself. That said, I think self awareness occurs when a concentrated area of feedback loops "locks in". Imagine structure emerging from video feedback, or a deep gravity well. They're not cut off from the universe, but very focused.
miselaineeous 2 years ago