Simulations & Silicon Valley

2. Load the Gosper Gun pattern and run it. Then load the Acorn pattern and let it run. (For the Acorn, let run for at least 6000 generations). Briefly describe what you see as the key difference between the behaviors of the two configurations.

The first reading is a selection from the Campbell-Kelly et al. book *Computer*. It describes the emergence of a microelectronics industry based in the region we now call Silicon Valley.

3. What does "upside-down economics" mean in the context of semiconductor manufacturing?

The second reading is an article from the Atlantic magazine about the use of computer simulation in urban planning (or at least the popular game Sim City, which is a simulation of urban planning.

4. Why is the lack of politics in the game significant? In other words, what does the lack of this feature say about the relationship between the simulation and real world?