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Emergence is a welldocumented concept in computer science, with the most notable example being Conway’s Game Of Life. This cellular automaton uses four simple rules to judge whether a single square in a grid is ‘alive’ or ‘dead’. When run over thousands of turns, this ruleset results in evolving patterns of striking complexity and beauty. For developers, Conway’s game shows how the deft application of logic can lead to surprising and exciting consequences. It’s a principle that the likes of NoMan’sSky will test across an entire universe.