Stephen Wolfram, creator of Mathematica and author of the idiosyncratic book A New Kind of Science, has offered a prize of $25.000 (18 598€) to whomever proves (or disproves) the universality of a 2,3 (2 states and 3 colors) cellular automata.
This fact (once proven) would show that even with an extremely reduced set of rules/states it is possible to achieve Computational Universality.
Personally, I believe that the probability of such a small set to randomly occur in nature could be surprisingly high, pointing that simple organisms and even physical phenomena capable of Computational Universality, more than just the mere result of chance, can be the product of an universal inevitability.
Tags: Computers, Mathematics, Philosophy, Science
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