← back Heterogeneous Evolving Game of Life

Origin

Plantec et al., Evolving Game of Life, arXiv 2406.13383, 2024. Standard GoL but each cell has its own birth and survival rule that mutates on reproduction. Rules themselves evolve, creating open-ended ecology.

How It Works

Each cell stores its own B/S rule plus energy. When a cell reproduces, offspring inherit the parent rule with small random mutations. Different rule-species compete for territory and keep evolving. Color-coded by rule identity.

Applications

Open-ended evolution without explicit fitness. Studies how environmental pressure shapes emergent rule diversity. Shows that GoL convergence to still-lifes is an artifact of homogeneous rules.

watch rules evolve and compete for territory·mutation rate controls how fast new species appear·color shows rule identity