Starting with a given screen pattern (in this case, randomly generated), apply the following four rules
to obtain a new pattern:
Turn off (or leave off) any pixel that is in contact with less than 2 other pixels that are turned on ("it dies of isolation").
Turn off (or leave off) any pixel that is in contact with more than 3 pixels that are turned on ("it dies of overcrowding").
Turn on (or leave on) any pixel that is in contact with exactly 3 pixels that are turned on ("it remains alive or is born").
Leave unaltered any pixel that is in contact with exactly 2 pixels that are turned on.
Repeat the above procedure, generating a sequence of screens; usually a stable (stationary or repeating) pattern is eventually achieved.
This is Conway's Game of Life, developed by British mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970.
The local symmetric shapes are interesting (groups that forever alternate between broken cross and broken circle).
noxrubbish 10 months ago