Research Shows All 23-Bit Still Life Patterns in Conway's Game of Life Are Glider Constructible
By
HeliumHydride
Crisp on the outside, thoughtful on the inside. A keeper.
Summary
The article discusses research in Conway's Game of Life about which still life patterns can be constructed by colliding gliders. It explains that not all still lifes are synthesizable through glider collisions, citing a 2022 discovery by Ilkka Törmä and Ville Salo of a patch that must have existed since the beginning of time and cannot be produced from empty space. The article focuses on the specific finding that all 23-bit still lifes are glider constructible, while noting that larger unsynthesizable patterns exist, with the current record being a population 154 still life.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledIn the Game of Life, which still lifes can be produced by crashing gliders together? We've known for a few years that the answer cannot be 'all of them'
in 2022 Ilkka Törmä and Ville Salo found a patch of still life that, if it exists in the universe, must have existed since the beginning of time
there is no way we could have produced it out of empty space through glider collisions
at the time of writing the record holder is an unsynthesizable still life with population 154
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