
Cellular Automata in the Browser - hardmaru
https://javascript.christmas/2019/22
======
goldenkey
I used WebGL 2.0 Compute to make a supercharged CA engine:

[https://github.com/churchofthought/Grautamaton](https://github.com/churchofthought/Grautamaton)

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lbj
I also made an example of this years ago in clojurescript. Porting this from a
java desktop app to the browser took less than 5 minutes

[http://bestinclass.dk/da/posts/brians-brain-optimized-
clojur...](http://bestinclass.dk/da/posts/brians-brain-optimized-
clojurescript-html5)

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bloat
Here's a similar literate program I wrote some years back in (then very new
language) ClojureScript.

[http://git.slothrop.net/automata/](http://git.slothrop.net/automata/)

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phreeza
After high school I spent a year in rural Zambia as a volunteer, and one of my
tasks was setting up a computer lab with donated computers at the local high
school. There was no internet of any kind, but the computers had Internet
Explorer installed, so I was able to program JavaScript. One of the things I
programmed for fun was exactly this, an implementation of Conway's game of
life.

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fit2rule
Seems like the bold moves made by the EvoCell guys may prove fruitful soon ..

[http://evocell.net/](http://evocell.net/)

~~~
onemoresoop
Thats a nifty game!

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carapace
[http://maximecb.github.io/Turing-Drawings/](http://maximecb.github.io/Turing-
Drawings/)

> Turing Drawings uses randomly generated Turing machines to produce drawings
> on a canvas, as a form of generative art.

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Gehinnn
Cellular automata are a very interesting device to recognize languages. It is
still unknown whether there is a language in NP that cannot be accepted by a
Cellular Automata in n steps.

~~~
AllegedAlec
> Cellular automata are a very interesting device to recognize languages.

I'm going to require one hell of a source for this...

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bilekas
nice write up and lots of nice details, but is this not just fractals ?

Nature itself is very much represented through fractals, at least in some part
of my amateur understanding, which would suggest a lot of really interesting
research in to this area.

~~~
AllegedAlec
> nice write up and lots of nice details, but is this not just fractals ?

Nope. Cellular automata are another beast.

> Nature itself is very much represented through fractals,

Not really. There are some fractal-ish processes, but they're not as common as
some media assert they are.

~~~
dkersten
I like the smbc-comics “translation” (or explanation): [https://www.smbc-
comics.com/index.php?id=3777](https://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3777)

~~~
bilekas
Ahaha well I feel pretty silly now!

~~~
dkersten
Hah! Don’t, it’s a very common trope and you can’t know what you didn’t learn,
right? I believed the media claims too for a long time

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rytill
Deep within a simple cellular automaton, patterns begin to emerge.

Almost all patterns are fleeting and whisk away as quickly as they arose.

Others are more sticky, whirlpool-like, and tend to survive.

Of these, some consistently emit patterns.

Some compute-aeons later, one will emit a pattern that leads to self-
replication.

Soon, these surviving, self-replicating patterns infest the grid like
bacteria.

Life must evolve and exist in the chasmic depths of some of these defined
cellular automata.

Some must evolve to the point of intelligence.

Does it wonder about its place in the universe?

What is the most minimal cellular automata that creates intelligent life
earliest in its evolution?

~~~
AllegedAlec
I'd like some of what you're on.

EDIT: I love how this is the top post on this article, despite being basically
a word salad.

~~~
martythemaniak
I found it cute and quite meaningful.

If you spend a good deal of time on Cellular Automata, Dissipative Structures
and genetics these things really start to jump out at you.

Here's a starter pack: Cellular Automata and Computation:
[https://www.edge.org/conversation/stephen_wolfram-ai-the-
fut...](https://www.edge.org/conversation/stephen_wolfram-ai-the-future-of-
civilization)

Origin of Life:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqPGOhXoprU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqPGOhXoprU)

Dissipative Structures: [https://www.amazon.ca/Order-Out-Chaos-Dialogue-
Nature/dp/055...](https://www.amazon.ca/Order-Out-Chaos-Dialogue-
Nature/dp/0553340824)

~~~
blacksmith_tb
Wouldn't we be watching AL here, and not AI? Of course its evolution should
proceed at a faster pace than terrestrial life has, but I wouldn't expect it
to ask us why it exists for a little while yet...

