On 10/19/21 12:58 PM, Marcus Daniels wrote:
Game of Life has been shown to be universal
https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/822575/turing-machine-universality-of-the-game-of-life
<https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/822575/turing-machine-universality-of-the-game-of-life>
I would expect there are many “intermediate lambda” CAs that behave this way,
and so could implement any simulation manifesting stigmergy.
*From:* Friam <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> *On
Behalf Of *Jochen Fromm
*Sent:* Tuesday, October 19, 2021 12:40 PM
*To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
*Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] stygmergy, CA's, and [biological] development
Interesting point. What do the others think?
I think if you start with an "X" at the top and consider the X as your agent
and the space to the left and right as the environment then yes, we would have a kind of
stygmergy model for an agent which interacts in a two dimensional world (one space and
one time dimension). It is a rather limited model though. I am not sure if it is useful
:-/
-J.
-------- Original message --------
From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
<mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Date: 10/19/21 21:28 (GMT+01:00)
To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group'
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
<mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] stygmergy, CA's, and [biological] development
Thanks, Jochen, for answering.
Let me try to stretch the point and see if I can bring you on board. In the
first place, mimimally, stygmergy need not involve sociality. So, If I go out
on a hike and cut blazes on trees on my way out so I can find my way home, that
is stygmergy in good standing, right?
Now let’s try a very simple ca where the rule is, if nothing is written, write
x; if x, white o beside; if o, write x beside.
X
OXO
XOXOX
ETC.
Now, if we consider what is written at each stage as a thing put out in the
environment and the “rules” what the organism brings to the table then each
line is the joint product of the previous line and the rule, hence stygmergy.
Am I stretching a point. Is everything not stygmergy?
N
Nick Thompson
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
<mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
<https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/>
*From:* Friam <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
<mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>> *On Behalf Of
*Jochen Fromm
*Sent:* Tuesday, October 19, 2021 1:05 PM
*To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
<mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>>
*Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] stygmergy, CA's, and [biological] development
No, CAs are not a good model for stygmergy IMHO. Stygmergy is as Wikipedia says
a mechanism of indirect coordination through the environment. For example: ants
which exploit a food source by following a pheromone trail. Or termites which
build a nest.
In Cellular Automata there is no clear distinction between agent and
environment. They are just a grid of states which evolves step by step by
updating the cells with a transition rule or function.
The other type of collective intelligence besides stygmergy is swarm formation. The
individual member is attracted to the group as a whole but repelled by other individuals.
You know the classic Boids rules which govern fish swarms and bird flocks: "stay
close to the group but keep away from your neighbors".
For more complex things you probably need a code. If the individuals are smart,
then a few rules are enough - holy books have typically only a few MB. If the
individuals are lifeless molecules, then the code can be several GB (a human
genome has roughly 3 GB).
Hope that helps a bit? You are lucky to have such a smart grandson! I believe
Frank has grandchildren too.
Jochen
-------- Original message --------
From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
<mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Date: 10/19/21 20:15 (GMT+01:00)
To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group'
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
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Subject: [FRIAM] stygmergy, CA's, and [biological] development
Friends,
Beware. As usual, I am trying to get you to think for me.
My grandson is working on a regeneration project in his freshman biolab
(Planaria) and his sources and texts are replete with cognitive language like
“signal” and “memory” etc., which implies that as the worm regenerates it is
influenced by a guiding idea of what it is producing. My basic intuition, as
you know, that this doesn’t happen in human cognition, let alone worm
regeneration and that processes that produce a functional head from a slice of
the rear end of a flatworm have no idea what they are doing even when they are
done. Thus I imagine an advancing edge of structure with each new bit
influencing the rules by which the next bit . Which, of course, puts me in
mind both of stygmergy and of Cellular Automata. So to my questions:
Are Cellular Automata a good model for Stygmergy?
Is Stygmergy a good model for organismic development?
Why? Or Why not? Discuss.
Also, is there a good website, citizen-friendly, steep learning curve, where my
grandson and I could explore the relation between developmental processes and ca’s.
I looked at NewLogo Library and did not find there any models of regeneration, but
may not have known where to look. I did find THIS
<https://distill.pub/2020/growing-ca/> which deep down in the Table of
Contents seemed to have three regeneration models including one named “Planaria”, but
I could no see how to go further with it. If somebody could have a look at it and
give me some tips for how to use it, I would be ever so grateful.
