[extropy-chat] [COSMO-ASTRO] Weighing the Universe

[Hal Finney]

A good thought experiment is Conway's game of Life.  This is a two
dimensional cellular automoton (CA) model with simple rules that provides
for interestingly complex behavior.  "Gliders", "spaceships", "blinkers"
and other types of objects exist in Life.  It has been shown that it
is possible to build computers in the Life universe, using streams of
gliders to carry information.

We can simulate the Life universe in our own, using computers.  Programs
to do this are widely available.  In the same way, it may be possible to
simulate our own universe in Life, using computers in the Life universe.

What about concepts like mass or energy?  Do they have correlates in the
Life universe?  Not in any simple form.  The number of "on" and "off"
cells varies considerably from generation to generation.  It might be
possible to identify some measures that are roughly conserved over time,
but there is nothing obvious, at least at the scale where we usually
observer Life.

It's hard to say what the "cost" of computation is in Life.  There may
not be any such thing that we can perceive and understand.

Hal