A Simple CPU on the Game of Life (2021)

iggldiggl 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

In a similar vein, there's also the Wireworld computer:

* https://www.quinapalus.com/wi-index.html

* https://wiki.logre.eu/index.php/Projet_Wireworld/en

mwcz 6 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

First, I thought "not so simple!" But it's wonderfully grokkable compared to zooming in on equivalent hardware and watching transistor states unfold.

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kimixa 6 days ago | parent | next [-]

I think I see the opposite - a Game of Life logic gate is way harder to understand than just a symbol representing the logic itself. And I see most logic gate transistor implementations as much simpler and so easier.

	▲	mwcz 5 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I meant zooming in on the hardware very literally. Watching electrons in a transistor. Logic diagrams are naturally easier to understand than what they describe.
	▲	ninetyninenine 6 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Right but the motion of each signal is observable in the game of life version.

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waltbosz 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

It's a funny coincidence, the game of life computer reminded me of the human computer they built in the book "Three Body Problem", and your comment uses the term "grok" from the book "Stranger in a Strange Land", two scifi books I read recently.