- Conway’s Game of Life
Conway’s Game of Life is a cellular automaton devised by the mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970. It is a zero-player game, meaning that its evolution is determined by its initial state, requiring no further input. The game is played on a grid of cells, each of which can be in one of two possible states: alive or dead. The game follows a set of rules that determine the next state of each cell based on the current state of its eight neighbors. These rules simulate the birth, death, and survival of cells, creating fascinating patterns and behaviors.
The game starts with an initial configuration of live and dead cells. Then, the rules are applied simultaneously to every cell in the grid to determine its next state. The rules are as follows:
- Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbors dies, as if by underpopulation.
- Any live cell with two or three live neighbors lives on to the next generation.
- Any live cell with more than three live neighbors dies, as if by overpopulation.
- Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbors becomes a live cell, as if by reproduction.
These rules are applied repeatedly, creating a new generation of cells at each step. The game continues indefinitely or until a specific condition is met, such as all cells being dead or the pattern stabilizing into a repeating pattern.
Conway’s Game of Life has attracted a lot of attention due to its simplicity and the complex patterns it can generate. It has been studied extensively in various fields, including mathematics, computer science, and biology. The game has also served as a platform for exploring emergent behavior and self-organization in complex systems.
If you are interested in learning more about Conway’s Game of Life, you can visit its WikiLink for detailed information.