cellular automaton
An array of cells that evolves according to a set
of rules based on the states of surrounding cells; for example, a cell might
be "on" if its four neighbor cells (east, west, north, and south) are also
on. The entire array can self-organize into global patterns that may move
around the screen. These patterns can be quite complex even though they
emerge from just a few very simple rules governing the connections among
the cells. Cellular automata are the simplest models of spatially distributed
processes. They were first investigated by John von
Neumann in about 1952. Von Neumann incorporated a cellular model into
his "universal constructor" and also proved that an automaton consisting
of cells with four orthogonal neighbors and 29 possible states would be
capable of simulating a Turing machine
for some configuration of about 200,000 cells. The best-known cellular automaton
is Conway's game of Life. Another example
is Langton's Ant. The study of cellular
automata and their patterns has led to insights into the way structure is
built-up in biological and other complex systems, and for this reason forms
part of the subject of artificial life.
Related categories
• SYSTEMS
THEORY
• COMPUTERS,
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, AND CYBERNETICS
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