Conway’s Game of Life

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Life Lexicon

Pre-pulsar

A common predecessor of the pulsar, such as that shown below. This duplicates itself in 15 generations. (It fails, however, to be a true replicator because of the way the two copies then interact.)

Game of Life pattern ’pre-pulsar’

A pair of tubs can be placed to eat half the pre-pulsar as it replicates; this gives the p30 oscillator Eureka where the pre-pulsar's replication becomes a movement back and forth. See twirling T-tetsons II for a variation on this idea. By other means the replication of the pre-pulsar can be made to occur in just 14 generations as half of it is eaten; this allows the construction of p28 and p29 oscillators. The pre-pulsar was also a vital component of the first known p26 and p47 oscillators.

See also PPS.

Game of Life Explanation

The Game of Life is not your typical computer game. It is a cellular automaton, and was invented by Cambridge mathematician John Conway.

This game became widely known when it was mentioned in an article published by Scientific American in 1970. It consists of a grid of cells which, based on a few mathematical rules, can live, die or multiply. Depending on the initial conditions, the cells form various patterns throughout the course of the game.

Rules

For a space that is populated:
Examples

Each cell with one or no neighbors dies, as if by solitude.

Each cell with four or more neighbors dies, as if by overpopulation.

Each cell with two or three neighbors survives.

For a space that is empty or unpopulated:

Each cell with three neighbors becomes populated.

More information

Video’s about the Game of Life

Stephen Hawkings The Meaning of Life (John Conway's Game of Life segment)
The rules are explained in Stephen Hawkings’ documentary The Meaning of Life
Inventing Game of Life (John Conway) - Numberphile
John Conway himself talks about the Game of Life

Interesting articles about John Conway

Implemented by Edwin Martin <>