Includes index

The foundations for a new kind of science -- The crucial experiment -- The world of simple programs -- Systems based on numbers -- Two dimensions and beyond -- Starting from randomness -- Mechanisms in programs and nature -- Implications for everyday systems -- Fundamental physics -- Processes of perception and analysis -- The notion of computation -- The principle of computational equivalence

This work presents a series of dramatic discoveries never before made public. Starting from a collection of simple computer experiments---illustrated in the book by striking computer graphics---Wolfram shows how their unexpected results force a whole new way of looking at the operation of our universe. Wolfram uses his approach to tackle a remarkable array of fundamental problems in science: from the origin of the Second Law of thermodynamics, to the development of complexity in biology, the computational limitations of mathematics, the possibility of a truly fundamental theory of physics, and the interplay between free will and determinism

Includes bibliographical references (p. 849-1197) and index

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