In some systems, your fate isn't decided at the start—everything stays up in the air until the very last second.
April 2, 2026
Original Paper
Predictability is dynamically constructed by topological collective modes in deterministic systems
arXiv · 2604.01088
The Takeaway
We usually assume that if a system follows set rules, its final state is pre-determined by how it started. This study shows that in certain systems, the 'choice' between a static pattern or a spiral wave doesn't even exist until late in the process, making the future literally unreadable until it happens.
From the abstract
Deterministic many-body systems governed by simple interactions can self-organize into macroscopic patterns, and the determinants of long-time behavior are assumed to be encoded in the initial configuration. Here we show that predictability can instead be constructed dynamically rather than being accessible in the initial configuration. We study a generalized cellular automaton of secrete-and-sense cells that self-organizes from disorder into static configurations, rectilinear waves, or spiral w