William Ananias Vallério Dias

Cellular automata (for short, CA) are structures formed by basic units (cells) in a neighborhood relationship that can assume a finite number of states and change them depending on the states of neighboring cells. This simple basic dynamics between cells reveals emergent patterns when the evolution of states is considered globally. Because of this, CA are used in scientific modeling, especially in the modeling of complex systems. The purpose of this work is to examine the use of CA in scientific practice as representational models and to show how CA represent emergent aspects of complex systems through their global dynamics within an adequate sense of scientific representation.