My God, how I love this list.
I start a thread with an intertaining quote - a sort of computer related
pun. It moves to logic states and then on to a fascinating discussion of
biology and the "cost of sex"!
Well, Wirt's mention of celluar automata reminded me that Stephen Wolfram
just published a book he's been working on for twenty years. It's causing
quite a stir and I hope to purchase it this weekend. The title is, "A New
Kind of Science". As you may recall, Wolfram developed the widely used
program(s) called Mathematica.
He says of the book, "But for me what has always been most important is the
actual process of discovery. For I know of nothing as profoundly exciting
as to glimpse for the first time some new and basic truth. And now that I
have finished building the intellectual structure that I describe in this
book it is my hope that those who read these words can share in the
excitement I have had in making the discoveries that were involved."
The publisher summarizes the book as follows,"This long-awaited work from
one of the world's most respected scientists presents a series of dramatic
discoveries never before made public. Starting from a collection of simple
computer experiments--illustrated in the book by striking computer graphics-
-Stephen Wolfram shows how their unexpected results force a whole new way
of looking at the operation of our universe.

Wolfram uses his approach to tackle a remarkable array of fundamental
problems in science, from the origins of apparent randomness in physical
systems, to the development of complexity in biology, the ultimate scope
and limitations of mathematics, the possibility of a truly fundamental
theory of physics, the interplay between free will and determinism, and the
character of intelligence in the universe.
Written with exceptional clarity, and illustrated by nearly a thousand
original pictures, this seminal book allows scientists and nonscientists
alike to participate in what promises to be a major intellectual
revolution."

You can find more information at http://www.wolframscience.com/

ENJOY!

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