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The cellular automato ! ) offers a model of " the world and a wodd unto itself
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Hayes, Brian |
| Copyright Year | 2008 |
| Abstract | I t is due cause for wonder 1hat mole cules of water "know" how to frame the elaborate syrr.metries of a snow flake. There is no architect directing the assembly, and (he molecules themselves carry within them no template for the crystalline form. Pattern on a large scale e.merge~ entirely from the shorl-range in:eractiollS of many identical \lnits. Each molecule responds only 10 [be in· tJuence of its nearest neighbors, but a consistent arrangement is maintained throughout a structure made lip of per haps 10m molecules. One way to approach an undero.tand ing of this process is to imagine that each sile where a molecule might be em placed is governed by a rudime.ntary computer. As the crystal grows, each computer surveys the surrounding sites and, depending on it:> findings, deter mines by some fixed rule whether its own site should be occupied or vacant. The same calculation is made at all the sites accordiog to the same rule. The computational model of snow flake growth is a cellular au10maton: a uniform array of many identical cells, or sites, in which each cell has only a few possible states and lrlterach oniy with a few neighboring cells. The components of Ihe system-the cells and the rule for calculating the next state of a ce:l--can be simple indeed and nonetheless give risc to a remarkably complex evolution. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://bit-player.org/wp-content/extras/bph-publications/SciAm-1984-03-Hayes-cellauto.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://bit-player.org/bph-publications/SciAm-1984-03-Hayes-cellauto.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
