Abstract
Cellular automata can be applied to simulate various natural processes, particularly those described by physics, and can also serve as an abstract model for all kinds of computers. This results in a intriguing linkage between physics and the theory of automata. Such connections prove to be suggestive in the experiment, to be described below, to apply cellular automata as models for mechanisms in the physical world. Based on such analogies, the properties of our world can be formulated in the simplest possible way. The primary focus lies not on the explicit simulation of certain laws of nature but on the general principle underlying their effects. By choice of suitable algorithms, local and causal conditions as well as random deviations can be visually rendered. In addition, the problem of determinism can be handled. Apart from the classification of computable and non-computable processes, a third category of phenomena arises, namely, mechanisms which are deterministic but not predictable. All of these characteristics of our world can be classified as aspects of some underlying structure. And, the laws of nature are apparently consistent with the evolution of a multiplicity of relatively well-defined structures.
Access provided by Autonomous University of Puebla. Download to read the full chapter text
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
References
Codd, E.F.: Cellular Automata. Academic Press, New York (1968)
Berlekamp, E., Conway, J., Guy, R.: Gewinnen– Strategien für mathematische Spiele. Vieweg, Braunschweig (1985)
Franke, H.W.: Die Welt als Programm. Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau 45, 379 (1992)
Gerhard, M., Schuster, H.: Das digitale Universu, Zelluläre Automaten als Systeme der Natur. Vieweg, Braunschweig (1995)
Herken, R. (ed.): The Universal Turing Machine. A Half-Century Survey. Kammerer und Unverzagt, Hamburg (1988)
Hedrich, R.: Komplexe und fundamentale Strukturen. BI Wissenschaftsverlag, Mannheim, Wien, Zürich (1990)
Langton, C.G.: Life at the Edge of Chaos. In: Langton, C.G. (ed.) Artificial Life II. Addison-Wesley, Redwood City (1991)
Margolus, N.: Physics-like Models of Computation. In: Farmer, D., Toffoli, T., Wolfram, S. (eds.) Cellular Automata, Physica D, vol. 10 (1984)
von Neumann, J.: The Theory of Self-reproducing Automata. In: Burks, A.W. (ed.) Essays on Cellular Automata. University of Illinois Press, Urbana (1970)
Wunsch, G.: Zellulare Systeme. Vieweg, Braunschweig (1977)
Wolfram, S.: Cellular Automata as Models for Complexity. Nature 311, 419 (1984)
Wolfram, S.: Universality and Complexity in Cellular Automata. In: Farmer, D., Toffoli, T., Wolfram, S. (eds.) Cellular Automata. North-Holland (1984)
Wolfram, S.: Theory and Applications of Cellular Automata. World Scientific Publishing Company, Singapore (1986)
Wolfram, S.: A New Kind of Science. Wolfram Media (2002)
Zuse, K.: Rechnender Raum. Vieweg, Braunschweig (1969)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Franke, H.W. (2013). Cellular Automata: Models of the Physical World. In: Zenil, H. (eds) Irreducibility and Computational Equivalence. Emergence, Complexity and Computation, vol 2. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35482-3_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35482-3_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-35481-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-35482-3
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)