| Here are some snapshots of dynamical patterns. In all cases, the spiral structures appear to
rotate even though no physical element of the experimental apparatus is moving. |
|
| Dynamical experiments have revealed a variety of behaviors that can be divided into
four classes: |
| 1. The screen goes blank. |
| 2. A single blob, stationary or pulsating, appears. |
| 3. Blobs of light swirl around in a seemingly unorganized way,
never appearing to repeat. |
| 4. An organized pattern of blobs appears to grow, shrink, and evolve. |
| These classes are similar to, perhaps identical to, the
Wolfram classes of cellular automata. |
| Class 3 behavior can be compared to chaos. |
| * It is deterministic (no randomness is built into the experiment),
but cannot be predicted over long times. |
| * This last is a consequence of sensitivity
to initial conditions: small changes rapidly grow to affect the entire system. |
| * Similar behavior was observed for some
cellular automata. |
| Class 4 behavior is an example of what we shall call
complex. |
It is self-organizing, contains islands of order, and yet exhibits
long-range correlations. |
|
