Research: Simplicity Sought for Complex Computing [Wolfram]

Simplicity Sought for Complex Computing
Chicago Tribune (11/19/07) Van, Jon
Stephen Wolfram says people building complex computers and writing complicated software may achieve more studying nature. Wolfram says his company is exploring the "computational universe" to find more simple solutions to complex problems that are currently handled by complex software. "Nature has a secret it uses to make this complicated stuff," Wolfram says. "Traditionally, we're not taking advantage of that secret. We create things that go around things nature is doing." Wolfram believes that nature has created a molecule that could be used as a computer if people ever manage to isolate and program the molecule. University of Chicago Department of Computer Science Chairman Stuart Kurtz says a lot of computer scientists are fascinated by finding simple systems capable of producing complex results. For example, a University of Southern California professor has proposed using recombinant DNA for computing. While DNA computers are largely theoretical, computer scientists take them quite seriously, Kurtz says. "People are used to the idea that making computers is hard," Wolfram says. "But we're saying you can make computers out of small numbers of components, with very simple rules."
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