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<H1>[MUD-Dev] Re: cellular automata as universe models</H1>
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<LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI>
<LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Re: cellular automata as universe models</LI>
<LI><em>From</em>: Joel Kelso <<A HREF="mailto:joel#ee,uwa.edu.au">joel#ee,uwa.edu.au</A>></LI>
<LI><em>Date</em>: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 09:15:53 +0800</LI>
<LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI>
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<PRE>
James Wilson wrote:
> Hi all, I've been thinking about how one might use cellular
> automata to model a universe. By 'cellular automata', I mean a
> set of nodes where a given node's state changes are completely
> determined by a set of neighboring nodes. (The research community
> uses the term a little more carefully than I do. Purists, please forgive
> my insolence.)
Have you read "Permutation City" by Greg Egan ?
<snipped design bits for cellular-automata based MUD>
> As a 'realism' constraint, there is a real-world parallel; namely, information
> and thus causality cannot propagate faster than the speed of light, so there
> is no instantaneous causality across remote areas of space. (Quantum
> correspondences don't let you out of this either, unfortunately, but that's
> highly OT. *heh*) Perhaps one could loosen the correspondence between
> spatial locations and nodes - allowing mobile nodes, wormholes, dynamic
> changes to the node graph, and the like - without breaking the underlying
> synchronization model.
If you disallow non-local access, you might get another advantage: the abilityto
simply partition the processesing for your world onto multiple processors.
Inter-process communication occurs only at well-defined boundaries (although
you could shift the boundaries dynamically to do load balancing), and by
a well-defined protocols. Just a thought.
> To be perverse: at one extreme, each object could be a single mobile node,
> but this would obviate any gains realized by serializing groups of spatially
> local objects, and seriously complicate the process by which events inspect
> their environment.. At the other extreme, nodes could be so large that
> serialization of their state changes would be tantamount to serializing the
> whole db, which of course is an option but one I am interested in avoiding.
> The useful case is where nodes are large enough to conveniently serialize
> db state changes while not terribly inconveniencing script writers.
>
> The node and its neighbors would have to be understood as the 'environment'
> available to an event, and script writers would need to work under the
> assumption that information from outside this local environment is unavailable.
> This is essentially the same constraint that human users of VR environments
> (and real world systems) operate under; that is, one's responses are determined
> by one's internal logic (mind, instincts, physical laws, etc) and one's
> immediate environment (through sensory data or physical interactions). I'm not
> sure how this constraint could translate into a scripting system, however. One
> would need to remove direct references and proxy all object accesses through
> the environment; how could this be done efficiently?
I have to admit that when I first read you post I thought: "what do CA have to
dowith MUDs ?" ... but the possible serialisation and parallelisation advantages
of a cellular world with no non-local references really make this worth thinking
about.
Joel Kelso
-- joel#ee,uwa.edu.au --------------------------------------
"... great Scott, he's turned into _more than one person_ !"
"Well, there was always enough of him."
- the Goon Show
-- <A HREF="http://ciips.ee.uwa.edu.au/~joel">http://ciips.ee.uwa.edu.au/~joel</A> ------------------------
</PRE>
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<li><strong><A NAME="01047" HREF="msg01047.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: cellular automata as universe models</A></strong>
<ul compact><li><em>From:</em> James Wilson <jwilson#rochester,rr.com></li></ul>
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<LI><STRONG><A NAME="01040" HREF="msg01040.html">[MUD-Dev] cellular automata as universe models</A></STRONG>
<UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> James Wilson <jwilson#rochester,rr.com></LI></UL></LI>
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<ul><li>Thread context:
<BLOCKQUOTE><UL>
<LI><STRONG>[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<ul compact>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01090" HREF="msg01090.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Marian's Tailor vs. Psychopaths</A></strong>,
Jo Dillon <a href="mailto:emily#thelonious,new.ox.ac.uk">emily#thelonious,new.ox.ac.uk</a>, Tue 22 Sep 1998, 08:18 GMT
</LI>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01062" HREF="msg01062.html">[MUD-Dev] MOSIX: Multi-computer Operating System for unIX</A></strong>,
J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Fri 18 Sep 1998, 19:06 GMT
<LI><strong><A NAME="01061" HREF="msg01061.html">[MUD-Dev] PCCTS->ANTLR</A></strong>,
J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#under,engr.sgi.com">claw#under,engr.sgi.com</a>, Thu 17 Sep 1998, 19:06 GMT
<LI><strong><A NAME="01040" HREF="msg01040.html">[MUD-Dev] cellular automata as universe models</A></strong>,
James Wilson <a href="mailto:jwilson#rochester,rr.com">jwilson#rochester,rr.com</a>, Sun 13 Sep 1998, 23:27 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01046" HREF="msg01046.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: cellular automata as universe models</A></strong>,
Joel Kelso <a href="mailto:joel#ee,uwa.edu.au">joel#ee,uwa.edu.au</a>, Tue 15 Sep 1998, 01:14 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01047" HREF="msg01047.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: cellular automata as universe models</A></strong>,
James Wilson <a href="mailto:jwilson#rochester,rr.com">jwilson#rochester,rr.com</a>, Tue 15 Sep 1998, 02:01 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01037" HREF="msg01037.html">[MUD-Dev] [off-topic] news!</A></strong>,
Travis Casey <a href="mailto:efindel#polaris,net">efindel#polaris,net</a>, Sun 13 Sep 1998, 22:27 GMT
<UL>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01038" HREF="msg01038.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: [off-topic] news!</A></strong>,
J C Lawrence <a href="mailto:claw#kanga,nu">claw#kanga,nu</a>, Sun 13 Sep 1998, 22:31 GMT
</LI>
<LI><strong><A NAME="01039" HREF="msg01039.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: [off-topic] news!</A></strong>,
Jeroen Ruigrok/Asmodai <a href="mailto:asmodai#wxs,nl">asmodai#wxs,nl</a>, Sun 13 Sep 1998, 22:51 GMT
</LI>
</UL>
</LI>
</UL></BLOCKQUOTE>
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