Still trying to understand the basics

[vuqazo]

Hi,

Since I've heard about this through Joe Rogans podcast, I decided to check it out. It all seems fairly easy to understand from the basic rules set out, but what I don't understand is; in the videos that show the transformation of the organisms, is one generation considered as one frame?

So the movements you see on screen are actually put to life through the "generations" evolving thus, giving you these complex patterns that you see?

Thanks in advance.

[pcallahan]

what I don't understand is; in the videos that show the transformation of the organisms, is one generation considered as one frame?

Usually, at least for patterns that run in a reasonable time... it is possible that you might only display every 10th generation to speed up the animation (or every 100th, 1000th, etc.) For extremely long-running patterns such as the enormous universal constructor implementations, you have to speed it up because it may run millions of steps. Try a tiny example like a single glider:

Code: Select all

x = 3, y = 3, rule = B3/S23
3o$2bo$bo!

You should be able to convince yourself that each frame is a single generation, computed by the Game of Life rule (birth on 3 neighbors, survival on 2 or 3, otherwise death).

So the movements you see on screen are actually put to life through the "generations" evolving thus, giving you these complex patterns that you see?

Yes, it all comes from the same simple rules. Pretty amazing, huh? You can find many examples on this website (and examples of other cellular automata rules).

Since I've heard about this through Joe Rogans podcast

Wuh... Really? Joe Rogan is talking about Conway's Game of Life? Does he know there are now Game of Life NFTs? Maybe his show is the key to getting them in the public eye. (Kidding... sort of.)