"Computers are simply the means to create virtual environments where populations of simple programs are allowed to interact with one another in the hope that interesting emergent properties will result. Instead of approaching our subject top-down, we approach it bottom-up, setting loose within a virtual environment a whole population of simple interacting entities so that emergent behaviours can be synthesised. One generates knowledge in this approach by observing the dynamical results of the interactions in order to generate in ourselves new intuitions as to what is going on in real ecosystems. Hence we convert the computer into an 'intuition synthesiser'."
Manuel De Landa