Chip
This is a pretty fascinating pattern to watch once it settles. Does it have a name yet?<p>Some observations:<p>* The basis of stability seems to be horizontal and vertical alternating black/white lines.<p>* There are two obvious areas of activity: A region of 'chaos' and a region of 'order' (parallel lines).<p>* The parallel line region supports various gliders of various sizes. The smallest is a single pixel of change moving across a line, changing white to black or vise versa), the largest takes up 7 pixels at a time (in an area of about 7x12 it looks like). Interestingly, the larger one "moves" faster than the others. I think I see gliders of 1, 3, 5, and 7 pixel height. There may also be a mutation of the 7-pixel glider that causes it to go even faster (looks like it has an extended head compared to the other)<p>* The gliders interact with one another, either combining forces, neutralizing each other, or changing states to a glider of a different size (usually to a size smaller than the larger of the two)<p>* The gliders originate from the merger of the horizontal and vertical areas, starting (and ending) their life where the two regions collide<p>* When two gliders of the same size perfectly collide with one another, they completely neutralize. Any offset in size or orientation causes a smaller glider to spin away (likely representing the 'difference' in 'energy' between the two, whatever that means)<p>* There's also a 'blinker' that occurs when two alternating lines meet one another<p>* It appears to be a class IV cellular automata (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_automaton#Classification" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_automaton#Classificat...</a>)<p>Fascinating stuff. And so simple! Thanks for sharing the source.