Free will
The CA is controlled by the following buttons:
Shorter: Makes CA shorter.
Longer: Makes CA longer.
Hide CA-2
Plant CA-1: CA-1 is planted.
Plant CA-2: CA-2 is planted.
width CA-1+: Make CA-1 wider
width CA-1 -: Make CA-1 slimmer
width CA-2+: Make CA-2 wider
width CA-2 -: Make CA-2 slimmer
Resources= the amount of resources the CA has
Width: CA width
Before starting inspect the set of movement solutions . When the experiment starts the two CA (width =12) start moving . Their resources decline and when dropping below -40 (resources < -40) they turn toward each other. When they touch or overlap resources are replenished to a maximum of 20. Each CA senses where the other is. Both bounce back from the borders.
Watch for a while then desynchronize their actions
by planting a CA. Then start narrowing their width, When wider than
12 the CA structure becomes chaotic and when width=24 (default isolated
state) it stops moving. Here are some recommended experiments:
1. CA-1[width =2] CA-2[width=6] You will note that CA-2 is influenced
by CA-1 decisions. Now plant CA-2
2. CA-1[width = 16 ] CA-2[width=4] Hide CA-2 and watch CA-1. Despite
being sluggish, whenever resources drop below -40 it will seek the
other CA.
3. CA-1[width = 24 ] CA-2[width=6] Plant CA-1. It will stop moving and
control CA-2
Now forget the underlying rules that drive the system how would you
interpret its behavior?
Physics
When width <=12, the CA behave like an oscillating planetary system.
Their movements might be approximated by noisy Newtonian dynamics.
1. In reality no noise is involved neither
here nor in all other experiments.
2. Action-at-a-distance interactions, e.g., gravitational or magnetic,
is not implemented in the program. Here you have a system in which
the second and third laws of motions are not operating. Only the first,
the CA proceeds in its motion until ‘deciding’ otherwise.
While in Newtonian systems the particle is passive,
here it ‘decides’. Now imagine a new kind of mechanics which allows
the particle to decide, and contains Newtonian mechanics as a subset
where particles do not decide. The superset might be the mechanics
of life while the subset, of physics. Such contemplations illustrate
the merit of the present experiment. It stimulates your thinking
When width >= 16 the CA behaves chaotically. Yet since it is not
sensitive on its initial conditions is it really chaotic? Here we
need a new kind of chaos definition, bounded
chaos Now regard the system as a whole, including both CA. Its center
of mass occupies a strange attractor.
Theology
When the CA resources drop below -40, it ‘realizes’ that it has to seek
its neighbor. It responds somewhat later as if deciding when to turn.
Which illustrates that in this fully deterministic system a constrained
free will is still possible. After all our free will is also constrained,
e.g., by gravity.
Neuroscience
The two CA illustrate the behavior of a married couple. Their relationships
fluctuate between mutual attraction and repulsion, which neuroscientist
might attribute to their mutual dopamine levels (resources = dopamine
level). Or might the present system simulate bipolar disorders?