[bonestormii_]

The interesting property is embedded in the parent's use of the word "emerge" I think. It is the property of emergence that takes swarms of ants and forms an organized colony, or a network of nerves that creates intelligence.

I think it's something along the lines of.... randomized interactions of entities, constrained only by the attributes of the entities.

[wintorez]

One thing that makes me think that is possible is Conway's Game of Life. The rules are simple, and on the face value, doesn't create anything exciting, but then we have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2vgICfQawE

[theamk]

But this is true of many things. The most interesting is computer itself.

The 6502 CPU only has 56 instructions. They are very simple, and on the face value, do not create anything exciting. But then, we have.. every program and game on Atari, Commodore 64, NES, Apple II.

Is there a quantitative difference between glider factory emerging from simple game of life rules, and incredible complexity of Elite game emerging from simple instructions of 6502?