thanks, loved this wiki link: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asynchronous_cellular_automaton" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asynchronous_cellular_automaton</a><p>can't help but think about all the variables in the game of life that are missing. for instance, the rising/setting of the sun, and shadows cast by growing plants to the East stunting growth on those in the West, etc.  The CA graphs in the wiki article almost represent some of those missing variables.
"Rule 30 updated in cyclic order" resembles a 'seasonal' population.
"Self-clocked rule 30" could represent the lifetime of the individual plants.
"Self-synchronous rule 30" portrays where/when population equilibrium is reached.
The original Rule 30 resembles patterns seen in the microscopic or macroscopic, rarely seen in our human scale.