CA are Catalysts... But of What

The vision of fundamental physics in general, and the particular role that complex systems play in shaping that fundamental physics, that this chapter offers can be summarized by the following three visions of the future  

Consider, for a moment, what cellular automata represent, fundamentally, as 

For the particular class of reversible cellular automata rules, we might also add the fourth property  

The point of this terse introduction is that cellular automata represent not just a formalism for describing a certain particular class of behaviors (lattice gas simulations of fluid dynamics, models of chemical reactions and diffusion processes, etc.), but a much more general template for original and heretofore untapped ways of looking at a large class of unsolved or only poorly understood fundamental problems. 

Interpreting CA in this much broader light, this chapter addresses the following basic question What general insights does the study of cellular automata give -both on the micro- or macro-scale into the way our universe works T Unless otherwise stated, whenever we use the phrase CA-like in this chapter, we mean any formalism that adheres to the three (or four) basic properties of cellular automata listed above. 

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