[lukesandberg]

In wolframs "A new Kind of Science" there is a long discussion of not only the fact that leaf arrangement tends to use the golden ratio and that it is optimal for the plant. But also he describes a model (using cellular automata) that explains why such a pattern might emerge naturally. Unfortunately i don't remember all the details but it was a compelling use case for why automata might be a good model for natural phenomenon.

[SimHacker]

That was just Stephen Wolfram channeling Alan Turing but not giving him credit.