Re: The Game of Life

From: Fred Chen <flipsu5.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Tue, 07 Dec 1999 22:01:43 -0800

How would you verify your Life pattern has achieved SAS status?

Jerry Clark wrote:

> More relevantly, it is posulated as highly likely that, starting with a random
> Life
> formation, SAS's will evolve of their own accord. One proves this by showing
> that
> our UTM is also a universal constructor (can take a coded blueprint and build
> out
> of it a machine at least as complex as itself). UTM is also a universal
> destructor
> and therefore mobile. Eventually you get evolution and SAS's.
>
> This is "SAS's for free" and a much more interesting result than the fact that
> one
> can build a UTM in the life universe that simulates e.g. this universe.
>
> Such 'Life' evolution raises an interesting question: These SAS's would build
> universities and
> study mathematics, computer science and physics. Some J.H.Conway of the Life
> universe would discover the amusing and diverting Life game, and start
> discovering
> gliders, glider guns, space rakes etc. Sooner or later a physicists would hear
> about
> this new development and the realisation would be made that their universe
> *is* a
> Life simulation. Such a discovery would of course revolutionise the study of
> physics
> for these SAS's.
>
> More interestingly still: when are *we* going to discover some CA or similar
> which
> turns out to be *our* universe? In my lifetime I hope.
>
> Fred Chen wrote:
>
> > hal.domain.name.hidden wrote:
> >
> > > Fred Chen, <flipsu5.domain.name.hidden>, writes:
> > > > When this game is run, complex patterns can emerge from simpler ones in
> > > > a dynamic fashion. So, my question is, can this game generate SAS's?
> > >
> > > It has been found that "Life is Universal", meaning that you can
> > > construct a Universal Turing Machine out of the Life rules. It would
> > > then be possible to program it to simulate any mathematical or logical
> > > system, hence SAS's should be possible.
> > >
> > > Hal
> >
> > You are right. You can construct a UTM based on Life rules.
> >
> > Fred
Received on Tue Dec 07 1999 - 22:07:13 PST