Ep 99: 256 simpler games

Ep 99: 256 simpler games

256 simpler games

In the 1980/s, Stephen Wolfram began considering and experimenting with elementary cellular automata. These are, instead of a 2-dimensional grid, just a one-dimensional row of cells or squares. At least one of these simpler games, rule 110, turns out to be Turing complete, just like Conway’s game of life.

Here are links to more information about rule 110.

Rule 110

The Significance of Universality in Rule 110

Here’s a link to the online atlas of elementary cellular automata.

Wolfram Atlas: Elementary Cellular Automata

Here’s a link to Stephen Wolfram’s book on the subject.

A New Kind of Science

And last but not least, here’s a link to a page about an experiment, that includes some cellular automata you can listen to. The active cells have been mapped to notes on a musical scale.

Hearing Cellular Automata

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