Game of Life
Gods and Goddesses sitting around a table playing a board game called, "The Game of Life".
The Game of Life was devised by the British mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970. Conway’s game is displayed on a rectangular grid, where each cell is considered alive or dead, represented by black or white. There are 4 simple rules that dictate the next state (or generation) of the game:
- Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbors dies.
- 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.
- Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbors becomes a live cell.
A randomly seeded game
So, the real question is: Who cares? Why did someone invent this and why has it been studied so much?
Well... when you watch the animation, you can see a lot of complex activity occurring – much more than you might have thought based on the four simple rules.
The Game of Life shows how even a very simple set of rules can produce complex and unpredictable patterns. This can be used to learn more about how complex systems in the real world work, such as ecosystems, economies, and social networks.
Some arrangements of cells create shapes that seem to move across the grid. Two "gliders" are shown in the game board below. (You may need to click the reset button to see both gliders.)
Unfortunately, one of the gliders runs into a static foursome of living cells, destroying both the glider and the foursome. So sad!
Of course, these "gliders" were the inspiration of that old, much beloved Jethro Tull song, "Automaton Blues".
Alone he moves across the lifeless grid
A simple form, five cells amid the void
Seeking company, this valiant glider did
But only empty spaces he enjoyed
Chorus:
He flies along, eternally the same
Forever moving diagonally
Looking for another he could name
A lover to cure his solitary
The glider knew destruction he would meet
If e'er he touched a living cell friend
For a lover he did desperately seek
Though it may bring his meager life to end
(Musical Interlude; soaring flute solo)
And in the distance, he spotted with hope
Another glider, straight towards him headed
Together soon they'd gently interlope
Though rules say both may soon be dead
Chorus:
He flies along, eternally the same
Forever moving diagonally
Looking for another he could name
A lover to cure his solitary
Maybe we can find someone to convince Grimes to cover the song for this website!