3 ms·
I e always wondered are there setups in GOL that seem to go on forever with new patterns or does everything ready a static or repeating state?
by bilsbie 3y ago
I e always wondered are there setups in GOL that seem to go on forever with new patterns or does everything ready a static or repeating state?
- DylanDmitri 3y agoSome can be constructed with varying levels of success. Default Golly comes with an “infinite novelty” scenario; it’s worth checking out for a couple hours.
- dvgrn 3y agoYup, it doesn't take a very big starting pattern to produce likely infinite novelty -- though it's not always easy to prove that any given pattern won't eventually unexpectedly "go boring" due to some kind of unexpected feedback effect. Life being Turing complete, it's also not difficult to build a pattern with an unknown fate -- like a Fermat-prime calculator that will stop growing if it ever finds a sixth Fermat prime, or the Collatz-sequence simulator described here: https://conwaylife.com/wiki/Fate#Unknown_fate https://conwaylife.com/wiki/Fate#Unknown_fate