curves plus rules
![](http://blog.wolfram.com/data/uploads/2009/03/diversity_img01.gif)
Chris Carlson explores the design space of a simple graphical ruleset in an excellent post on the Wolfram Blog (which spends most of its time advertising Mathematica but occasionally gives us gems like this).
He has discovered a system that resonates well with the human imagination, like Richard Dawkins' Biomorphs do.
He rounds it off with an awesome Picasso quote: "Forcing yourself to use restricted means is the sort of restraint that liberates invention. It obliges you to make a kind of progress that you can’t even imagine in advance."
This post was originally on LiveJournal.