ConwayLife.com

Is it possible that the answer to "life, the universe and everything" is a 3D variation on Life and that while God may not play dice with the universe He does play 3D Life?
I suggest the following simple rules:
1. "Life Particles" appear and disappear at random.
2. A Life particle can only appear in a space unoccupied by another particle.
3. A Life particle can only disappear from where a particle is.
4. "Life Space" acts like a fluid. For example, place a ball in a swimming pool containing other balls and the nearest balls are pushed further away from it to a greater extent than those at a distance. I believe this results in an inverse square law. Similarly removing the ball has an attraction effect.
The above rules do not factor in rotation and a different set probably apply at subatomic levels, but lets see what the results would be.
The random nature means inevitably that some particles will appear close to others and clusters will form. The clusters will grow and eventually become large enough for particles to disappear from the cluster attracting other nearby particles and clusters.
Life Space is vast compared to that occupied by particles and the appearance of a single particle would be virtually undetectable. The cummulative effect would be detectable. The result would be that galaxy sized clusters would not be "accelerating away from each other" but accelerating away from the spaces between them!
The random nature of the above means that the Life Space equivalents of a Big Bang, a Steady State, a succession of Big Bangs and total annihilation are all possible and could all occur over time.
Given the current speed and storage capacity of PCs these days and the minimal programming which would be required I imagine that something like this has been done. I will be fascinated to hear of any results.
Andy Jenkinson

The universe being a cellular automaton is an idea that has been thrown around many times by brilliant people. I always like reading this story about Wolfram and Feynman.

However, nothing we can presently simulate will have the complexity of real life, due to the wondrous difficulty of quantum mechanics. So it'll be a long time before we can simulate a universe with comparable laws to our own (at least at a deep level).

I agree, but if our universe is based on random events we will never be able to predict outcomes. Given a random start position for Conway's life we cannot predict the outcome UNLESS it is a previously known position. Many different start positions can give the same ultimate result or a previously known position. Conway's Life does not simulate real world situations but is nevertheless interesting. Unless someone creates a 3D game - say based on my premise - we won't know what interesting results may or may not be thrown up. Glider guns and factories are not obvious outcomes yet they are produced. It is possible that rotation and spin may occur without further rules. We will not know unless we try it. It sems unlikely but then a glider gun is not very likely. If my rules do result in rotation and spirals we will not need to add another. If not, we experiment and add another, selecting until something works or nothing does. Conway's Life can create order out of chaos or chaos out of order. Real Life does the same.
There seems a reluctance among scientists to investigate anything without seeking a formula or equation for it. I believe that if we can explain HOW things work then it is not essential that we be able to make accurate predictions. Plate Tectonics were disregared for years when they should have been obvious because we cannot predict when movements will occur. We can at least predict that at some future date the San Andrea's Fault WILL separate. That in itself is valuable knowledge.

We say that the universe will expand infinitely outwards into nothingness at the speed of light forever. There are some rules which expand outwards at the speed of light forever. And sometimes, inside these masses of chaos, there are smaller masses of more stable chaos, which eventually bubble down to some sort of stable state.

Perhaps the universe is a bit like this: we are currently in some sort of chaos state, but eventually this area will cool down and become a big stable patch of nothing much over the next few billion years.