What Wolfram is saying is that much of biology and physics can be replicated by the execution of inherently simple algorithms. He started out simulating cellular automata on computers and realized that maybe nature has discovered effective algorithms and incorporated them into biological systems. Although I haven't read the book, I do not see where this contradicts current equation based science. Au contraire', it extends it with other tools. I do believe that there are inherent laws or whatever you'd like to call them that drive a bias for increasing complexity in this universe. These underlying laws drove from the big bang to star formation and nucleosynthethis on the astrophysics side and lead to more complex life forms on the biological side, at least in life-begnine environments like this planet. Perhaps an explanation for intelligence evolving and an indicator of future evolutions to come.

-philw