Theos-Talk Archives (July 2002 Message tt00108)

July 10 2002

Dear Friends :

May I recommend a visit to the WEB-PAGE of:	www.LATimes.com

Tuesday, July 9th 2002, Page 1, Col. 1 -- CODE OF THE COSMOS --

It is a report, done by Mr. Charles Piller of the Los Angeles Times,
on the recent work and findings of Dr. Stephen Wolfram of Princeton
University.

It presents as a discovery certain simple universal codes which
explain Universal Law and Order, Simplicity in basic concepts and
organization, a single SOURCE for complexity, brotherhood.

I read with pleasure and a certain degree of astonishment this report
( pp. 1 and 12) and thought it might be a good idea to present it and
ask you to pay a visit to the LOS ANGELES TIMES and read it for
yourselves.

Perhaps The SECRET DOCTRINE is being vindicated in still another way.

Best wishes,

Dallas

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Some highlights: { I have made excerpts from the article }

At the opening of his new book, Wolfram writes: "Three centuries ago,
science was transformed by the dramatic new idea that rules based on
mathematical equations could be used to describe the natural world.
My purpose in this book is to initiate another such transformation..."

This is simply expressed as a consideration in nature of its already
existent phenomena: snowflake shapes, wasps' nests, water jets,
etc... from there he passes to man-designed systems such as the
gyrations of financial and security markets -- all these, and the
computer generated images that he has devised, based on a few rules,
must have a common origin. He calls it "a principle of computational
equivalence." Comparing man's environment and his influence on
nature, he says: "What's special about us ?" Here are some telling
phrases:

" the ordered chaos of nature..." [ an oxymoron if ever I heard
one ]

"...underlies consciousness itself, giving rise to our very
thought..."

"For centuries scientists have sought to explain the natural
world--from the rotation of galaxies to the spin of subatomic
particles--with mathematical equations...."

"...describing the soft-edged diversity of natural world..."

"...the basic instructions (by a few simple rules) created intricate
patterns on a computer screen will help us understand that ... creates
similar patterns in nature."

"The universe began, he maintains, with a few basic instructions that
played themselves out over billions of years to produce everything as
it exists today. This simple code, he says, underlies consciousness
itself, giving rise to our every thought..."

"...Wolfram has sidestepped ... scientific procedures. Instead of
submitting a paper to a peer-review...he is making his case directly
to a mass audience in simple nontechnical language..."
[His new book is A NEW KIND OF SCIENCE -- Amazon $ 44.95 His Web
Page is www.wolframscience.com/ ]

"...[this is] one of the more important single discoveries in the
whole history of theoretical science ..." -- Wolfram's evaluation.

[ Credibility is an Issue: Follows a list of important critics and
their statements...

One comment is: "Maybe not all of nature is as described by
Wolfram...but at least a big part of it is." Dr. H. E. Stanley.

A physicist at Boston U. Dr. R. Jeanloz says: "The modern approach
in matters of science has been reductionist....Wolfram's approach is
the exact opposite: Start with simplicity instead of complexity. If
he is right this could be a huge step forward in the way we approach
scientific problems--and maybe most complicated issues in life as a
whole."

Some experts say Wolfram also borrows heavily from chaos theory--the
study of complex interactive systems. ]

Wolfram -- "...sees the boundless complexity of the natural world...as
the result of inherent rules simple enough for any one to understand."

[ This study and its findings are said to be based on a "game" created
for computers by Dr. John Conway more than 30 years ago in Princeton.
Certain stating points cause "unending growth and perpetual
motion....build infinitely varying patterns...as complex as anything
in the universe..." ]

He has ventured to predict that these patterns and mathematical
concepts in design will eventually transform engineering, science,
philosophy, economics, the flow of traffic, medicine, healing, the
arts... "one can imagine building things that capture the essential
purposes achieved by natural systems, even the brain..."

"...extremely simple rules will often be able to generate pictures
that have striking aesthetic qualities--sometimes reminiscent of
nature but often unlike anything ever seen before."

The articles continues: "Paradoxically, Wolfram's hypothesis also
embraces one of humanity's earliest attempts to comprehend the natural
world--the pre-Christian creed of animism, which considers living
beings and inanimate objects equal in that all possess a soul.

In Wolfram's "new science," a person, a dog and a rock all emerge from
the same kind of simple rules and therefore are, in an essential way,
the same...it could also bolster the age-old belief in predestination
[Karma -- DTB] ...

[Wolfram] said he expects, before he dies, to discover the simple
source code from which all works of creation have flowed.

=====================

This sounds most interesting,

Best wishes,

Dallas