Re: NKS 2006 Wolfram Science Conference

[Mike Carrell]

My point about NKS is that if you start with Wolfram's thesis, look at the 
structures generated by the cellular automata, and let all that soak in a 
bit, you can get a feeling of a middle way between "science" and "religion".

If you look at the properties of the Wolfram's manifested complexity as a 
result of the operation of a simple process, you can see many of the 
features attributed to God by various cultures. You also can see the basic 
postulate of physics, that underlying the manifest complexity there are a 
set of rules or laws that 'explain' everything.

As far as the atheist position, I would ask about the 'image of God' that 
you don't believe in? At the core of mysticism of every culture is the 
intuition that essestial truth exceeds all categories; therefore what you 
can name is not "it". Thus in Judasim the name of 'God' is four 
unpronouceable consonants.

Ciphers must contain a concealed internal order, else they cannot be 
decrypted. The NKS "algorithm" needs no decryption, and so may defy all 
efforts to discover it.

Wolfram asserts no ultimate truth. However, he has posed a new set of 
questions whose pursuit may be very useful.

Mike Carrell