Poems inspired by ANKoS -

  Before the discoveries in this book
  One might have thought
  But instead one finds 
  And indeed in a sense
  This is what I have shown in this book

  Complex behaviour,
  Simple rules.
  The crucial point
  That was missed.
  The single most surprising scientific discovery
  I have ever made!

  And perhaps
  (One might imagine)
  Our failure to see a new kind of science
  Is just a reflection of some kind of inadequacy
  In our standard methods of perception and analysis.

  But in fact
  I very much doubt that this is the case.

  Indeed
  What I suspect is that ultimately
  The key point that will emerge
  From the discoveries in this book
  Is in some sense fairly obvious.

(To a forced rendition of ''A Kind Of Magic'')

  It's a new kind of science,
  It's a new kind of science,
  A kind of science.

  One man, one book, one bold hypothesis,
  One key unifying idea, 
  One of the more important single discoveries
  In the whole history of theoretical science.
  It's a new kind of science.

  One hundred thousand mouse miles,
  Immense numbers of articles, books and web sites,
  To build this intellectual structure
  With such a low threshold
  It's my mind of science.

  For while it may be somewhat tedious,
  This repetitive and nested behaviour
  Is a culmination of nearly twenty years of work.
  It's a new kind of science.

  So fundamental it must have been discovered long ago,
  But I very much doubt it.
  Is this a new kind of science?

  And indeed I have discovered vastly more than
  I ever thought possible.
  I had never expected it would take
  Anything like as long,
  This new kind of science.

  And in fact, with vastly richer implications,
  Than the laws of thermodynamics,
  Or for that matter
  Than any collection of laws in science,
  It's a new kind of science.

  And I believe what I have done
  Now touches almost every existing area of science,
  And quite a bit besides.

  It's a new kind of science.
  It's a new kind of science.

  And comparable to learning an area like physics,
  It will require an investment of years,
  All it takes is an understanding of how to 
  Apply simple rules repeatedly.

  This is a kind of science.
  I have been amazed by its results.
  And one may wonder whether this process will go on forever
  Or whether at some point it will come to an end.

  Science - it's a kind of science,
  It's a kind of science,
  Science, science, science, science,
  It's science,
  It's a new kind of science.

Executive summary (chapter by chapter)

  1.
  there's a new kind of science in the air
  this chapter was shock, awe, and then some.
  We reeled under the implications
  of old science being just an addendum.

  2. 
  there's four types of behaviour, and to see them
  you've got to get down and dirty,
  and once you do and start simulating
  I think you will find rule thirty.

  3. 
  complexity has a threshold
  and the most amazing thing of all 
  is that this complexity threshold
  is amazingly amazingly small

  4.
  chaotic systems look pretty
  but put the horse after the cart:
  they just read off a big number
  that was complicated from the start

  5. 
  traditional science can't do complex stuff
  and this causes some complaint:
  and indeed it's hard with simple rules
  to satisfy complex constraints

  ...
  
  11.
  and indeed, cellular automata can compute
  why, some are universal
  "what a threshold!" you may think
  but observe my 110th rule.