For what it's worth, Stephen decided that network was a better model for the universe than a cellular automaton, and thought that space might emerge as a property of that network rather than be "defined in", as in a cellular automaton.
(In the preceding section he discussed some constraints that a cellular automaton would put on the universe model, but didn't dismiss the idea for that reason)
https://www.wolframscience.com/nks/p475--space-as-a-network/
(In the preceding section he discussed some constraints that a cellular automaton would put on the universe model, but didn't dismiss the idea for that reason)