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Computation and Universality:
Class IV versus Class III Cellular Automata
Genaro J. Martinez, Juan C. Seck-Tuoh-Mora and Hector Zenil

This paper examines the claim that cellular automata (CA) belonging to Class III (in Wolfram’s classification) are capable of (Turing universal) computation. We explore some chaotic CA (believed to belong to Class III) reported over the course of the CA history, that may be candidates for universal computation, hence spurring the discussion on Turing universality on both Wolfram’s classes III and IV.

Keywords: Cellular automata, universality, unconventional computing, complexity, chaos, gliders, attractors, mean field theory, information theory, compressibility.

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