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Has anyone working on Conway's Game of Life found a way to create barriers which divide zones, ideally between a potentially chaotic "outside" and a structured inside, which could then become, e.g., a kind of truly living cell (or other functional structure which proceeds largely under its own rules without being subject to constant interference from the outside)? This wouldn't necessarily be a barrier which is completely impermeable/indestructible; one which is relatively so (perhaps one which can only be breached by certain unusual formations of outside structures, or which has several layers of defense which could withstand some repeated battering before being fully breached). There are of course many stable configurations, but many are so only on the assumption that no other structures approach their boundaries; as we know, many very complex structures collapse more or less quickly when a single errant glider hits and begins to interact with it. I'm looking of course not for a structure which will simply destroy a glider coming from a particular angle, but one which is able to deflect/absorb a large number of outside structures coming from many different angles.

scottef
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  • Since one can build a digital computer with GOL, it is computationally universal, so in theory you should be able to do this. How this would work is a different matter. –  Aug 16 '21 at 22:41
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    Not necessarily; one might build such a computer, but then an errant glider crashing into its side could dismantle it. Doubtless the computer could compute anything computable, including a model of cellular membranes, as long as it exists, but I'm talking about the supervenience base of that computer (or any other GOL structure)--is there a way to build a membrane which acts as a wall between it and the rest of GOL space, precisely to protect such an internal mechanism? – scottef Aug 17 '21 at 23:23
  • I've seen ppl make scrollers (moving text) inside a GOL simulation. So basically if you can create a "computer screen" in the automaton you could simulate any program you want; just by having the computercode in the memory-bank of the digital computer simulated by the GOL. You might perhaps even make some program logic that does double buffering or manipulating of the simulated screen. But im no expert in GOL. Most of my time has been Elementary and Totalistic Cellular Automata. –  Aug 19 '21 at 22:58
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    See my comment here https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/3SG4WbNPoP8fsuZgs/ and related links – Oscar Cunningham Jan 14 '22 at 11:22
  • Oscar: a very intriguing, and very plausible hypothesis, thank you. – scottef Jan 17 '22 at 23:38

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