Hello.
I am kind of new to this, but Conway's game of Life looks cool.
I am wondering if it can be used to simulate real life things.
For instance maybe it can be used for weather, windflow. Or maybe it could be used for some sort of AI... Any thoughts..
Kind of new to this. Wondering if Conway's game of Life can really be used for real life simulations
Re: Kind of new to this. Wondering if Conway's game of Life can really be used for real life simulations
CGOL is a general purpose computation platform, so in that sense it can be used to simulate anything, but it's phenomenally ill-suited to modeling things in the real world. In other words, the answer to your question, practically speaking, is no.
Generally speaking, real-world modeling is done by observing a system and then describing relationships between components of that system, usually in the form of differential equations. After testing and refinement, you may end up with a set of relationships that seems to adequately model the behavior of your system, at which point you may be able to make reasonable predictions about the future evolution of similar systems.
Generally speaking, real-world modeling is done by observing a system and then describing relationships between components of that system, usually in the form of differential equations. After testing and refinement, you may end up with a set of relationships that seems to adequately model the behavior of your system, at which point you may be able to make reasonable predictions about the future evolution of similar systems.
Re: Kind of new to this. Wondering if Conway's game of Life can really be used for real life simulations
With a slightly more general form of the question -- can cellular automata (in general, not just Conway's Life) be used to simulate real life things? -- the answer is closer to "yes" ... at least it gets as far as "maybe" or "sometimes" or "sort of".
I'm thinking of various examples that are scattered around here and there -- diffusion of gas molecules, or sand piles (or water or lava or snow or what have you), or the iterative patterns that appear as seashells grow. But it does seem like a lot of times, agent-based modeling works better to get at the essence of natural systems than strict CAs can do. The real world has a lot of conservation laws, and CAs often only have those if you deliberately build them in.
Re: Kind of new to this. Wondering if Conway's game of Life can really be used for real life simulations
Since AI is developing very quickly these days, I think the answer is YES.
-
- Posts: 784
- Joined: April 26th, 2023, 5:47 am
- Location: Bahar Junction, Zumaland
Re: Kind of new to this. Wondering if Conway's game of Life can really be used for real life simulations
That is hard. You could - but there are better rules for this.
~ Haycat Durnak, a hard-working editor
Also, support Conway and Friends story mode!
I mean no harm to those who have tested me. But do not take this for granted.
Also, support Conway and Friends story mode!
I mean no harm to those who have tested me. But do not take this for granted.