Not necessarily, it would just be very different from our world. One potential problem is that it can be easier for an irreversible universe to slip into an inert ‘dead’ state, since information can be globally erased.
My initial thought was that this universe would have low complexity. It has simple rules, and a simple initialization process. However, I suppose that, for a deterministic GoL rule set, the simple initialization process might not result in simple dynamics going forward. I think it depends on whether low-level noise in the exact cell patterns “washes out” for the higher level patterns.
Maybe we need some sort of low entropy initialization or a non-deterministic rule set?
Doesn’t intelligence require a low-entropy setting to be useful? If your surroundings are all random noise then no-free-lunch theorem applies.
Entropy is less of a problem in GoL than our universe because the ruleset isn’t reversible, so you don’t need a free energy source to erase errors.
Are there any problems with an irreversible ruleset?
Not necessarily, it would just be very different from our world. One potential problem is that it can be easier for an irreversible universe to slip into an inert ‘dead’ state, since information can be globally erased.
There is also no possibility for a Penrose-style return to form due to extremely unlikely random fluctuations over extreme lengths of time.
My initial thought was that this universe would have low complexity. It has simple rules, and a simple initialization process. However, I suppose that, for a deterministic GoL rule set, the simple initialization process might not result in simple dynamics going forward. I think it depends on whether low-level noise in the exact cell patterns “washes out” for the higher level patterns.
Maybe we need some sort of low entropy initialization or a non-deterministic rule set?