A network automaton (plural network automata) is a mathematical system consisting of a
network of nodes that evolves over
time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
according to predetermined rules. It is similar in concept to a
cellular automaton, but much less studied.
Stephen Wolfram's book ''
A New Kind of Science'', which is primarily concerned with cellular automata, briefly discusses network automata, and suggests (without positive evidence) that the
universe
The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Acc ...
might at the very lowest level be a network automaton.
Networks
Cellular automata
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