> From: Mike Carrell >> From: "thomas malloy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > >>>- What does computational irreducibility mean for supercomputing? > >>> > >>>- Is there an algorithm for telling if an object was designed? > > > >> Would such an algorithm prove the existence of a designer of life?
... > Unfortunately, no simple statement can substitute for a perusal of Wolfram's > "A New Kind of Science" and confronting the printouts of hundreds of runs of > the cellular automata whose properties are displayed. Wolfram says he wrote > Mathematica in part to be able to do this work. > > It is altogether astonishing that some seeds for cellular automata lead > quickly to sterile order and stasis and others, seemingly similar, generate > progressive unlimited randomity. It is further astonishing that Wolfram > demonstrates that these 'random' manifestations can do Boolean logic and > arithmetic operations, leading to 'intelligence'. > > The bottom line is that the overwhelming complexity of the manifest universe > is arguably the result of the operation of something as simple as cellular > automata, and that we have no hope of discovering the nature of that seed. > > The Lord works in mysterious ways. > > Mike Carrell Mike's interesting perception on this matter reminds me of what often appears to me to be a never-ending battle between those who seem to need to keep the carvings of God firmly banished to the realm of the transcendent, and the other side who seem to need to find a carving attributed to the finger of God (any carving, and any finger will do) chiseled somewhere in our universe, no matter how subtle or fleeting that chiseling might turn out to be. If I was god, I think I'd keep both sides guessing, and perhaps for an eternity as well. It's more interesting that way. ;-) I thought Carl Sagan's novel, "Contact", did a marvelous job of, conceptually speaking, capturing one of those illusive carvings attributed to the finger of God, and from a mathematical point of view . Reading's Carl's novel one can clearly see that for much of his life span he had pondered the conundrum of whether it might be possible to detect an echo of God's presence embedded somewhere within our ever expanding universe. Perhaps Carl has his answer now. As for me, I'm still guessing. ;-) Regards, Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com
