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It does help that Game of Life physics is somewhat simpler than Real Life physics. Of course, Real Life physics is a little less apt to collapse into a seething
by david-given 11y ago
It does help that Game of Life physics is somewhat simpler than Real Life physics. Of course, Real Life physics is a little less apt to collapse into a seething mass of undifferentiated matter of you poke it in the wrong place.
This is the slowest spaceship known, right? (Which isn't a machine made out of other parts?)
- NoMoreNicksLeft 11y ago> It does help that Game of Life physics is somewhat simpler than Real Life physics. Are we sure of that yet? > Real Life physics is a little less apt to collapse into a seething mass of undifferentiated matter of you poke it in the wrong place. Are we sure of that yet?
- eru 11y agoWe are sure that Game of Life physics is simpler than Real Life _chemistry_. There, fixed that for you.
- Rhapso 11y agoIt also helps that we GoL comes with the capacity to instantiate the universe in any configuration we wish, rather than being forced to coerce it into that state from scratch.
- eru 11y agoNot from scratch, but from inside!
- onnoonno 11y agoInside? Tell me what the outside is, then :)
- eru 11y agoOutside the Game of Life is easy to tell. Outside the universe ain't. But even though, I can confidently say that we are definitely inside.
- onnoonno 11y agoBut does it make sense to even talk about inside and outside then when talking about the universe?
- Rhapso 11y agoIt makes about as much as uncountable infinite numbers. I can say everything in the universe is within a countably infinite distance of me. Thus, anything an uncountable infinite distance from me is outside the universe. Not a very tangible idea, but not useless of purpose of reasoning about the affairs of things.
- eru 11y agoIt's a bit of an abuse of notation. Talking about the inside definitely makes sense. (Talking about the outside is a bit like talking about the empty set.)
- dalke 11y agoYes, GoL physics is simpler than Real Life physics. RL follows quantum mechanics. As far as we know, its state cannot be recorded perfectly. GoL is a Turing Machine. Its state can be recorded perfectly. RL follows relativity. There is no equivalent in GoL. Hashlife gives a method to compute GoL boards faster than processing each cell, and gives an exact answer. There is no equivalent for RL. At best there are probabilistic predictions. (There might be a 1E-50000 chance that the Sun won't rise tomorrow because all of the atoms in the Sun fuse at the same time and it blows up.)
- grkvlt 11y ago> RL follows relativity. There is no equivalent in GoL Of course there is an equivalent of relativity! There's a fixed, ultimate speed-limit (i.e. c) of once-cell/time-step. It is not possible to transmit information faster than this in GoL.
- Dylan16807 11y agoYou can have C without relativity. There are no relative reference frames in GoL. Reactions only work at specific absolute speeds, and most of them only work at absolute speed 0.
- goldenkey 11y agoRelativity can exist in an absolute environment like GoL if you consider the momentum of the quantum vacuum virtual particles. Look it up :-)
- goldenkey 11y agoSeriously guys. Downvotes for talking about digital physics? Sad me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfluid_vacuum_theory#Relation_to_other_concepts_and_theories https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfluid_vacuum_theory#Relat... "Relativistic quantum field theory"
- 11y ago
- lmm 11y agoYes. Real Life physics has been proven to be either nonlocal or nondeterministic (Bell inequalities). Life physics is both local and deterministic.
- Rangi42 11y ago"A seething mass of undifferentiated matter" describes runaway exothermic reactions fairly well. It also helps that Games of Life can be saved and reloaded. If your lab bench explodes, too bad, start over from scratch (assuming you're uninjured).
- heavenlyhash 11y agoOh, of course, simulations without perfect replays would be an abomination! Not even worth mentioning! -- What are we, heathens who can't even manage the basics of reproducible builds? (cough)
- kordless 11y agoHypothesis: We don't have perfect replays because there are multiple players.