I hope that we can directly make this connection this semester, through "artificial chemistry." More on that later...

I think that the connection that the author of this website makes between the formation of the stable chemical structures of methane, ethene, propane, butane, pentane, and hexane and the "endgame" states of Life (the stable rings, which can exist because each cell has exactly two neighbors) has an important implication for the computer modelling of emergence. It has been evident since Darwin's theory of evolution that organic life on earth is nothing but the current state of the real-world, molecular correlary to Conway's Life--of course, we have not reached an "endgame." All the atoms and molecules on earth are still interacting. DNA has evolved as an efficient and well-adapted self-replicating molecular pattern (I was actually talking to my dad about this a few days ago and it's incredible how the arrangement of molecules in viral DNA is perfectly set up to accomplish replication by finding the right environment, copying the DNA, building the right proteins to encase it, then folding them and fitting them together just right) leading to the evolution of life on earth. It seems plausible to think that the same sort of emergence of very complex, self-replicating patterns is possible in a computer simulation, although, As Leach observes, the rules governing molecular interactions are much more complex and the environment unbounded (or at least a lot bigger than a computer's memory even if we are just considering earth). Here is a link to a page with one example of a pattern in Life with the 23/3 rule set that moves itself across the screen and generates a sort of debris behind it.

Some time ago I wrote a feature for The Alchemist on ChemWeb.com about chemical evolution. I more recently posted it on my own site. You can read my spin on chemical evolution here. Thanks db