A New Kind of Science

[sam at zeppomusic.com]

A few months ago, a P-list member posted a link to a
preview piece on a book (make that, in hindsight, A
Book) called A New Kind of Science by Mathematica
creator Steven Wolfram.

I was absolutely fascinated by the concept of cellular
automata mentioned in the piece, and placed an advance
order for the Book. It arrived about a week ago. 

Good God or, following what I see as an inevitable
consequence of one of the arguments put forward by
Wolfram, a categorical lack thereof! The last time I
was so quakingly, palpitatingly excited by printed
words, it was by V! NKoS is one ambitious, bold,
bad-ass piece of scholarly bragadoccio.

Is anyone else reading it? PLEASE contact me, off list
if you wish. I need someone to swap ideas with.
Seriously, this could be the start of something big. By
the way, there is a P-connection: the new kind of
science detailed in the Book claims to explain how the
Second Law of Thermodynamics can be locally violated a
la much of the philosophy of Gravity's Rainbow and, for
that matter, gravity's rainbow. 

At the risk of sounding like an advertisement (and
heaven knows there's enough blithe self-promotion in
the Book as it is), NKoS is an absolute necessity for
anyone who wants the universe's home phone number.

- Sam.