Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe (Penguin Press Science)

by George Dyson

“Now between these points act 1/d2 forces (like gravitation),” he continued. “What will happen for t > 0? I claim that condensations will form quickly—assume, for simplicity when points touch they stick—with nice Gaussian-like distribution of masses. Then—the next stage—clusters of these condensations will form—somewhat slower but surely (all statements have probability = 1!).” Ulam explained how this simple one-dimensional universe would start to look “somewhat like the real Universe: stars, clusters, galaxies, super-galaxies etc.,” and then considered what might happen in two dimensions, and even three dimensions, by introducing range forces, thermal oscillation, and light. He concluded by suggesting “that ‘entropy’ decreases—an abnormal ‘order’ applies.”