From: Morton Goldberg <m_goldberg@...>
Date: 2007-03-10T15:31:31+09:00
Subject: Re: [QUIZ] SimFrost (#117)

On Mar 9, 2007, at 7:57 PM, Matthew Moss wrote:

> On 3/9/07, Josef 'Jupp' Schugt <jupp@gmx.de> wrote:
>> * Matthew Moss, 09.03.2007 21:38:
>> > Strictly speaking, as this is a torus, you could put it anywhere
>> > and be at "the center".
>>
>> Actually it only looks as if we are acting on a torus. The reason is
>> as follows:
>
> My fault for getting technical...  someone else was bound to get even
> more technical.  =)

No, I think your observation is fundamentally sound. Since the  
simulation really does take place on a torus, statistically speaking,  
the outcome of the simulation should be independent of where the seed  
for freezing is placed.

That this topology does distorts the actual physical situation being  
simulated may reduce the simulation's usefulness for making  
inferences about nature, but it does not change the fact that, in the  
simulation, any notion of center is an artifact of the coordinate  
lattice introduced to facilitate its implementation.

Regards, Morton