Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Islam, Cellular Automata and the Game of Life


From The Last English Prince:
A friend sent along this comment into my e mail. “You see Muslims as colonizers but they are also pioneers carrying their system with them.” 
The comment was directed against a comment I had made after reviewing a small portion of a book for Muslim children. I considered the author a “player”. 
Here is the deal. My journalism and research have evolved into the “Game of Life” – a Conway model in which there exists a “zero player game, meaning its evolution is determined by its initial state requiring no further input. One interacts with the Game of Life by creating an initial configuration and observing how it evolves, or for advanced players, by creating patterns and particular properties.” 
Early in my research I compared my observations to watching droplets of water form on a screen. Now – my theory base is more aligned with cellular automata and applications used for computer science and cryptography. 
Years ago I identified the Quran and Sunnah as “symbol, signal and code”. The initial state still exists. What remains, is observation. 
In an article from TIME Magazine (20 May 2002″ Michael D. Lemonick penned a commentary, “How Everything Works.”)  Discussing the theory of Dr. Stephen Wolfram he states, “… the success of his simple programs made Wolfram suspect that science has been heading in the wrong direction for the past 300 years or so. Instead of trying to write complicated equations for everything, he says, “scientists should have been searching instead for the cellular automata that correspond to what they are observing.” 
Islam configures around certain patterns. Recognizing the pattern within a children’s book is not that difficult. But these things continue to confound and confront the observer. 
The author of this blog remains faithful to certain principles regarding her research. 
Semper Fidelis.

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