Well worth a read

[GeoffBoulton]

If you haven't read this, it's well worth a look

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/meta/getalife/

[disciple]

Interesting: sound argument backed up with fact. The drawback is: the theists will jump on the line about flooding with the push of a button and draw parallels.

[GeoffBoulton]

Maybe, but the author himself points to the shortcomings of the sim Earth model because of its 'bias' as a program based upon the Gaia hypothesis.

In any case this is shown only as part of the history of simulations, the subsequent pages show the real 'meat' of the argument, especially the part about genetic algorithms and their ability to reproduce the results we see from 'natural' evolution:

Complexity from a couple of very simple rules with no 'designer' involved
Extremely efficient solutions to problems
Redundancy with 'bits' left over from previous generations

[Fallen Hero]

I really am impressed by that. I had heard of the game of life, but never thought of it in that context. Pretty cool. I know a guy that is trying to recreate the program himself. I have no idea why though.

[Googler]

I'll assume it makes a good point :)