Need some help remembering something that's like a mathematical model :S

[kasavien]

Hi all.

I saw a program a while since which was about something which was along the lines of a mathematical model and possibly related to artificial intelligence, but i can't remember what it was called so i was hoping someone on here may be able to help.

The way i remember this model working was that it started out with an infinite 2 dimensional grid with a black square in the middle, with all the surrounding squares on the grid being white. Subsequently squares can be turned black depending upon a set of rules and i think it was only squares adjacent to black squares that could be turned black but this may be incorrect. The result of this would at first appear to be a random pattern of black squares on a white grid but eventually the pattern would resolve and it would continue in a straight line infinitely, heading away from the original black square at an arbitrary angle.

If anyone can name this model or theory or whatever it is i would be very grateful

Thanks

Andy

[Agent]

Look for a game called "life" IIRC

Untitled Document Is the first one I can remember off the top of my head

[kasavien]

Thank you so much i think that's what i was after, I had been reading about Cellular Automata and that's what made me think about it, apparently they're much more closely linked than i thought.

Thanks again

Andy

[JPreston]

You can build a Universal Turing Machine in that program

[kasavien]

Yeah i've been exploring it some more and it does some very cool things

This website is good for anyone that wants to have a play around with it

John Conway's Game of Life

Andy