3 ms·

Quite cool. Must not stare any longer. Must work. >> Do you say "made" or "discovered" with cellular automata? Discovered feels more appropriate, but I think

• vectorjohn 11y ago
  It gets into a pretty philosophical area. What's the difference between that and writing down an algorithm? Did you discover an algorithm or make it?
  • tracker1 11y ago
    Made the program, the program is an implementation of a discovery... it's a little of both.
  • rch 11y ago
    I think this sums it up nicely: "The time-span in which the MCL process and MCL algorithm came to me was no more than five minutes. It was something that happened to me, not something wrought by me. It feels like a nice discovery, a phenomenon of nature." -- http://micans.org/mcl/index.html?sec_discovery http://micans.org/mcl/index.html?sec_discovery
• mistercow 11y ago
  I feel like the difference between "made" and "discovered" depends on how you get there. If you're tinkering with cellular automata, and you notice a rule that makes something pretty, I'd say you "discovered" it. If, on the other hand, you study cellular automata until you have a deep understanding of their behavior, and you use that knowledge to determine a rule that will produce a particular aesthetic, you "made" it. So by that reasoning, the rule was discovered. The program that renders it in a browser was made.