Monday, May 27, 2002

A New Kind Of Science For those who haven't read the reviews... http://www.wolframscience.com/ 1:56:43 PM    comment

"Where Newton Went Wrong" from a 1998 paper "Where Newton Went WRong" by Steve Grand http://www.cyberlife-research.com/articles/newton.htm Even though photons of light and subatomic particles are rather different from ripples and whirlpools, in an important way they are the same: each is a disturbance in a field or fields (magnetic, electrical or Olympic-sized), which persists through propagation. It is not unreasonable to view photons as being like ripples, and particles and atoms as like whirlpools. Instead of the intuitive and classical perception of a universe like a canvas, onto which matter is daubed like paint, this gives us an impression of matter which is, well, an impression[~]a form embossed into space rather than stuff superimposed on it. Matter is therefore software, not hardware. It's only obvious once you see it. 1:49:05 PM    comment

Theory of Photons Over the weekend, I had an epiphany concerning the nature of photons, specifically how they can be both particles and waves: particles because they bounce, waves because they can generate interference patterns. Recently, Wolfram's new book is being reviewed by numerous periodicals (see Time, Business Week, et al). His theory is that cellular atonoma (sp?) can explain a large number of natural phenomenon (such as the patterns in sea shells). All of the exxamples sites in these reviews show two dimensional compositions, and I started to wonder what would emerge if 3D versions were generated? These compositions also look lik ethe "Life" simulations, where simple life and death rules for a grid if pixels shows relatively complex patterns and animations. Again I ask, have there been 3D versions of "Life"? So, now I take the theories proposed by Wolfram, project them into three dimensions instead of two, and ask "What rule sets would produce the behavior of photons?" As I imagine it, a photon is a cellular atonoma that changes "shape" as it propegates across space: when it hits a solid surface, it reverses direction (reflects) almost regarduless of its shape, and when it passes thru a slit, it interferes with similar photons coming from the other slit. My words are not doing justice to the images in my mind, so for now, check this out... http://www.ipm.sci-nnov.ru/~demidov/life/ 1:30:22 PM    comment

© Copyright 2002 deeje. Last update: 7/17/02; 9:27:07 AM.