The Iron Rule and the Mystery of B345/S456

There is a very simple “Iron Rule” of cellular automaton behavior: more local growth = more global growth. Generally, adding additional birth or survival conditions increases the “aggressiveness” of the automaton. This means most or all of at least the following parameters: Going from any given random rule like B356/S247 to a neighboring one like

Fates of Finite Chaos

It’s been a slow start on this blog. There was at a point a plan I had for a series of articles, but perhaps it will be more productive if I simply start writing about topics in no especial order. So, an observation on “chaotic” cellular automata. These are some of the less understood CA

Type 1: Immediate, Eventual or Statistical Death?

The most challenging topic in CA classification is probably developing clear definitions of “chaotic” and “complex” behavior — the two are very intertwined if looked at closely. However, the other two classes of the 1983 Wolfram classification, the “dying” and “shrinking” behaviors, have ambiguities to them as well. Some discussion of these probably makes for

Introduction

This is the first post on Cellular Cosmology, a research diary of sorts on the long-term and macroscopic behavior of cellular automata. As is often the case in the lands of cellular automata, I am a hobbyist rather than anything resembling a professional (though I do have some past studies in mathematics under my belt).