This conversation is closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »
Could life forms be defined by a single algorithm?
I just watched Michael Hansmeyer's presentation on creating shapes algorithmically.
His works were all done by a single simple algorithm and simple starting-states, but they all end up to be infinitely complex in the shapes and effects. So my question is, could we also define our own shapes in a single algorithm, and what possibilities would this yield?
Barry Palmer 50+
David Hamilton 50+
"The towers are gone now, reduced to bloody rubble, along with all hopes for Peace in Our Time, in the United States or any other country. Make no mistake about it: We are At War now -- with somebody -- and we will stay At War with that mysterious Enemy for the rest of our lives.
It will be a Religious War, a sort of Christian Jihad, fueled by religious hatred and led by merciless fanatics on both sides. It will be guerilla warfare on a global scale, with no front lines and no identifiable enemy...
We are going to punish somebody for this attack, but just who or what will be blown to smithereens for it is hard to say. Maybe Afghanistan, maybe Pakistan or Iraq, or possibly all three at once. Who knows? Not even the Generals in what remains of the Pentagon or the New York papers calling for WAR seem to know who did it or where to look for them.
This is going to be a very expensive war, and Victory is not guaranteed -- for anyone, and certainly not for anyone as baffled as George W. Bush. All he knows is that his father started the war a long time ago, and that he, the goofy child-President, has been chosen by Fate and the global Oil industry to finish it Now. He will declare a National Security Emergency and clamp down Hard on Everybody, no matter where they live or why. If the guilty won't hold up their hands and confess, he and the Generals will ferret them out by force."
Hunter S Thompson, The morning of September 11th 2001.
Scott Armstrong 50+
James Zhang 30+
I don't think it's that we're so determined. I think it's more than we're just curious if a human body can be described in one simple algorithm.
Gerald O'brian 50+
Similarly, the real cause of life's compexity is selection, not some initial programm.
Debra Smith 200+
Addition; that last line probably makes no sense until I tell you that no matter what else i run out of never seem to go until i have no lemons.
James Zhang 30+
But I think we all do agree that there is some kind of consistency among all humans, or all life for that matter...
Debra Smith 200+
James Zhang 30+
Debra Smith 200+
James Zhang 30+
Alex Munroe
This would make sense, as I assume with the columns, you would take a simple shape, input an algorithm, and it would grow depending on how it reacts to the algorithm. So you would have a crazy range of output from large insane beasts, to the minute flobs of jelly, but that would mean something had to determine the changes in the "folding points" so that the algorithm could produce different results. That would support a creationist theory completely if it came to light. Cool thoughts!
James Zhang 30+
But it's really interesting how we start from an embryo to a human form. Does it have anything to do with the structure of its starting state at all?
Alex Munroe
That could also just be differences in geography and where we come from, but all in all, really got me thinking.
James Zhang 30+
Mutation is caused by free radical electrons from the splitting of electron pairs in the dna. And there are a couple of things that can do this to us: radiation, and oxygen.
We are constantly getting UV exposure, and we are constantly breathing. Of course nutrients can counteract this mutation by replacing the missing electrons with newer ones.
James Zhang 30+