SOME HISTORICAL NOTES
The last 350 pages of A New Kind of Science contain 1350 notes covering a wide range of issues. About 150 of those notes are primarily historical.
Given here are a few such notes of particularly general interest. Almost every note is based on extensive historical research and scholarship.
At a future date, we may attempt to make available Dr. Wolfram's primary research materials. Scholars who wish to have further information now
about specific points in the notes may contact us.
Notes for Chapter 1: The Foundations for a New Kind of Science
Mathematics in science | History of programs and nature | Complexity and theology | Complexity and science
Notes for Chapter 2: The Crucial Experiment
The concept of rules | Atomism | History of cellular automata | Close approaches | My work on cellular automata
Notes for Chapter 3: The World of Simple Programs
History of experimental mathematics
Notes for Chapter 4: Systems Based on Numbers
History of numbers | History of primes | History of number theory | History of iterated maps
Notes for Chapter 5: Two Dimensions and Beyond
History [of 2D cellular automata] | History of fractals
Notes for Chapter 6: Starting From Randomness
History [of emergence of order] | History [of finite automata]
Notes for Chapter 7: Mechanisms in Programs and Nature
History [of universality of behavior] | History [of randomness] | Sources of randomness | History of chaos theory | Three-body problem
Notes for Chapter 8: Implications for Everyday Systems
History of snowflake studies | History of crystal growth | Navier-Stokes equations | Models of turbulence | Chaos theory and turbulence | History [of biological complexity] | History [of theoretical biology] | History [of shell models] | History of embryology | Parametrizations of growth | History [of shell patterns] | Randomness in markets | Models of markets
Notes for Chapter 9: Fundamental Physics
History of thermodynamics | History of ultimate models | Mechanistic models | History of discrete space | Space and its contents | History [of the relationship of space and time] | Causal networks | History of relativity | History [of elementary particles] | History [of gravity theory] | Discrete spaces | Pure gravity | Quantum gravity | History [of quantum theory] | Quantum field theory | Vacuum fluctuations | Quantum measurement
Notes for Chapter 10: Processes of Perception and Analysis
History [of defining randomness] | History [of defining complexity] | History [of data compression] | History [of irreversible data compression] | History [of visual perception] | History [of statistics] | History [of cryptography] | Standard mathematical functions | History [of logic] | History [of ideas about thinking] | Neural network models | Languages
Notes for Chapter 11: The Notion of Computation
History of computing | History of universality | History [of universal 1D cellular automata] | [Universality in] 2D cellular automata
Notes for Chapter 12: The Principle of Computational Equivalence
Church’s Thesis | Continuum and cardinality | Continuous computation | Constructible reals | History [of computational irreducibility] | Exact solutions | History [of free will] | History [of undecidability] | Mathematical impossibilities | History [of foundations of math] | Models of mathematics | Hilbert's tenth problem | Diophantine equations | Generalization in mathematics | Logic in languages | Empirical metamathematics | Defining intelligence | Defining life | History [of extraterrestrial intelligence] | Theories of communication | Mathematical notation | Forms of artifacts | Purpose in archeology | Teleology | SETI | Messages to send | Science fiction | Applications of randomness | Searching for technology | Chemistry | Animism | Universe as intelligent | Philosophical implications |