Cellular Automata – A Discrete Universe

Citation

Ilachinski, A. (2003), "Cellular Automata – A Discrete Universe", Kybernetes, Vol. 32 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.2003.06732dae.007

Cellular Automata – A Discrete Universe

Andrew IlachinskiWorld ScientificLondon, New Jersey, Singapore2002 July840 pagesISBN 981-02-4623-4 hardback US$86.00 £58.00ISBN 981-238-183-X(pbk)US$58.00 £39.00

Keywords: Publications, Cybernetics, Automata, Computers

The author from the Center for Naval Analysis, USA, has produced a book aimed at students and researchers in chaos, computer science and applied mathematics, and one which will cover many of the interests of cyberneticians and systemists.

The publishers write that the book:

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  …provides a summary of the basic properties of cellular automata, and explores in depth many important cellular-automata-related research areas, including artificial life, chaos, emergence, fractals, nonlinear dynamics, and self-organization. It also presents a broad review of the speculative proposition that cellular automata may eventually prove to be theoretical harbingers of a fundamentally new information-based, discrete physics. Designed to be accessible at the junior/senior undergraduate level and above, the book will be of interest to all students, researchers, and professionals wanting to learn about order, chaos, and the emergence of complexity. It contains an extensive bibliography and provides a listing of cellular automata resources available on the World Wide Web.

Cellular automata are a class of spatially and temporally discrete mathematical systems that are characterised by local interaction and synchronous dynamical evolution. Readers will know that the concepts were introduced by John von Neumann in the 1950s as simple models of self-reproduction. They proved to be the prototypical models for complex systems and processes consisting of a large number of simple homogeneous, locally interacting components. In consequence, cellular automata have been the focus of much attention because of their ability to generate a rich spectrum of very complex patterns of behaviour out of sets of relatively simple underlying rules. Researchers in cybernetics have recognised some of the important features of complex self-organising cooperative behaviour that is observed in real systems.

Perhaps we should accept the view of Professor Paul Halpern of the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, USA, who says that:

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  …a book that functions beautifully on many levels, offers such a definitive text … I would highly recommend this book to students, researchers, and anything who wonders about the underlying nature of the world itself.

But, of course, potential readers should examine its relevance. The book’s contents speak for themselves and include:

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  … Introduction: Preliminary Musings; Formalism; Phenomenological Studies of Generic CA; DynamicalSystems Theory Approach; Analytic Approach; Cellular Automata and Language Theory; Probabilistic CA; Generalized Models; CA Models of Fluid Dynamics; Neural Networks; Artificial-Life; Is Nature, Underneath It A”, a CA?…

For further information visit www.worldscientific.com and www.icpress.co.uk