Wolfram emerges, finally - Simulation or bust

[Benedikt Stefansson]

I remember hearing back in the early 1990s that Stephen
Wolfram was about to publish a major work about CAs and
'bottom-up modelling'.  The book never materialized,
although Wolfram has been quite prolific for the last decade
in another sense, spinning out new versions of Mathematica
through his company.  Now the publication date for 'A New
Kind of Science'  has finally been set (tentatively) for
September 2000.

>From the early scoop on the book I gather that this will be
great food for thought for everyone who is interested in
ALife, CAs and ABMs. Wolfram's main point seems to be to
find a flaw in the traditional  scientific belief that
things in the world follow the rules of traditional
mathematical equations, and argue that science should rather
consider the more general kinds of rules that can for
example be represented by computer programs. In other
words, 'simulation or bust', or something along those lines.

For those who are interested here is an interview with
Wolfram about the book from the Chicago Tribune:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/tech/news/article/0,2669,ART-43566,FF.html

Another article from the Daily Telegraph (UK):

http://www.stephenwolfram.com/about-sw/interviews/99-dailytelegraph/text.html

And there is more information on Wolfram's website
(http://www.stephenwolfram.com) including a sneak preview
and table of contents.

Benedikt

--
Benedikt Stefansson      | address@hidden
CASA, Inc.               | Ph : (505) 988-8807 x101
Santa Fe, NM 87501       | Fax: (505) 988-3440





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