# Is Stephen Wolfram's NKS, an attempt to explain the universe with cellular automata, in conflict with Bell's Theorem?

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Stephen Wolfram's A New Kind of Science (NKS) hit the bookstores in 2002 with maximum hype. His thesis is that the laws of physics can be generated by various cellular automata--simple programs producing complexity. Occasionally (meaning rarely) I look at the NKS blog and look for any new applications. I see nothing I consider meaningful. Is anyone aware of any advances in any physics theory resulting from NKS? While CA are both interesting and fun (John Conway, Game of Life), as a theory of everything, I see problems. The generator rules are deterministic, and they are local in that each cell state depends on its immediate neighbors. So NKS is a local deterministic model of reality. Bell has shown that this cannot be. Can anyone conversant with CA comment?

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-05-14 18:28 (UCT), posted by SE-user Gordon
asked Jan 30, 2011
Gerard 't Hooft has been looking at cellular automata inspired models for fundamental physics. You might find some of his recent (and readable) articles at arxiv.org/find/quant-ph/1/au:+Hooft_G

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-05-14 18:28 (UCT), posted by SE-user Siva