W08. Emergence 02
Today we will discuss systems theory and variations on Conway's Game of Life. These are generalizations of the discrete form of cellular automata that Conway developed. One form of generalization is in allowing for different rule sets to be explored. Another is to allow for the spatial resolution to increase, making the "squares" almost continuous. Another is to change the values that can be applied, e.g., allowing the squares to be "greyscale" and vary between 0 and 1. Finally, the transition functions can be changed, allowing for more complex relationships between pixels.
Pre-readings and Videos
Conway's Game of Life
Another famous cellular automaton is John Conway's Game of Life. Conway tuned the rules of this automaton to produce "life-like" patterns, i.e., it
Chaos
Some systems are hard to predict. We will start talking a bit about chaos theory today. The double pendulum is one of the most common examples of chaos theory. The video below shows another example of small changes having very unpredictable (yet deterministic) effects.
Summary of the Day
- Activity. Conway's Game of life
- Activity. Conways editor
Learning Goals
- Differentiate and problematize the boundary between agent and environment.
- Be able to produce concrete new examples of emergence.
- Be able to understand and design extensions to Conway's Game of Life.