101–110 of 114 posts
Can automated theorem proving software be coaxed into finding recipes for GOL constructions? I would find it interesting trying to formalize notions that we easily perceive into computer-understood definitions. May end up with strange formalizations to make things as orthogonal as possible: IE a beehive is a glider speed zero.
As a biologist with nearly no physics knowledge, this sort of work seems to have more in common with setting up quantum computers than it does with thinking about self-replication in living organisms, at least in terms of the lack of robustness to environmental noise. Maybe that is just overly metaphorical thinking on my part.
It’s mathematics and computer science, not biology. Nobody is claiming that a setup requiring 2^1500000 units of space to run is anywhere near a realistic simulation of biological processes :) Nevertheless, it’s a fantastic example of how simple rules can give rise to complex systems.
The RCT design is very much a mathematical construct, as opposed to anything with a biological inspiration. And the RCT's ability to construct itself is more of a theoretical afterthought at this point -- the engineering work hasn't been done yet to produce a demo of that kind of thing.
The point is well taken, about the fragility of Conway's Life with respect to environmental noise. That topic has also come up here and there in these comments, e.g., https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33797799#33800301
Whenever I read one of these deep dives into GoL achievements, and let me preface this by saying I mean this as a compliment, I feel like I'm reading the extended universe lore on a wiki page for a giant fantasy franchise. It's maths but feels so much more narratively rich than most other mathematics somehow, and the community around it has such a unique subculture vibe to it too.
in my opinion Jeffery Ventrella's clusters are a more promising avenue than Conways GoL. The rules are in comparison very interesting as well: No creation out of nothing, only particles that attract or repel each other. The pattern it generates are pretty amazing as you can see here: https://youtu.be/0Kx4Y9TVMGg
The basic idea is to use the distance of the gliders to encode information, so when they hit each other allows for an embedding of a Turing machine. I'm no expert here but some basic ideas are that some small number of gliders (two?) can hit each other and produce a "glider gun", allowing for just a few gliders to "upgrade" to producing a steady stream of gliders. There's a "Reverse Caber Tosser" (RCT) structure whic…
"Interesting", they might say. Or, "Fascinating!" even.
And then you show them this article. Just imagine how mind blowing it would be to them.
Original SciAm article -> https://www.ibiblio.org/lifepatterns/october1970.html
Imagine in 1970 someone reading Martin Gardner's Scientific American article describing 'John Conway's new solitaire game "life"'. Perhaps the reader played around with graph paper plus pencil and eraser to explore what could be done. "Interesting", they might say. Or, "Fascinating!" even. And then you show them this article. Just imagine how mind blowing it would be to them. Original SciAm article -> https://www.ibi…
Imagine in 1970 someone reading Martin Gardner's Scientific American article describing 'John Conway's new solitaire game "life"'. Perhaps the reader played around with graph paper plus pencil and eraser to explore what could be done. "Interesting", they might say. Or, "Fascinating!" even. And then you show them this article. Just imagine how mind blowing it would be to them. Original SciAm article -> https://www.ibi…
That was me, reading the original article as a youngster, working out generations on graph paper, etc. The difference is that I have been following the progress of researchers of Life through the years. It’s still astonishing!
Ever since 2001 I've been keeping a close eye on new developments so I don't get surprised like that again.
The basic idea is to use the distance of the gliders to encode information, so when they hit each other allows for an embedding of a Turing machine. I'm no expert here but some basic ideas are that some small number of gliders (two?) can hit each other and produce a "glider gun", allowing for just a few gliders to "upgrade" to producing a steady stream of gliders. There's a "Reverse Caber Tosser" (RCT) structure whic…
It's like how a Turing machine tape can be represented by two natural numbers (or even a single natural number via interleaving).
The difference is that where the real world doesn't allow for storing anywhere near that level of precision in a mark on a stick, the Conway's Life universe is considered to be unbounded, so there's as much room as we need to implement this RCT trick.
Whenever I read one of these deep dives into GoL achievements, and let me preface this by saying I mean this as a compliment, I feel like I'm reading the extended universe lore on a wiki page for a giant fantasy franchise. It's maths but feels so much more narratively rich than most other mathematics somehow, and the community around it has such a unique subculture vibe to it too.
Have you read "Permutation City"? I'm definitely reminded of it every time.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you read "Permutation City"? I'm definitely reminded of it every time.
There is a pattern of 15 gliders that encodes a simulation of a universe where your mind is immortal and living in an endless paradise.