Discussion of strange structures in Shapeloop

[Tezcatlipoca]

I am curious if any of you shapeloop explorers have come upon a structure like the following in your simulations:

Here is an example standing on its own:

Code: Select all

x = 22, y = 10, rule = shapeloop-b
2.DADF$2.AHJA$3A2HA$D2H.HA$CH2.HA$D4HB13.G$DAC4AD2ABACDC2A3D$19.D$19.
A$20.I!

Here it is engaged with another loop:

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x = 16, y = 33, rule = shapeloop-b
ADC6.DCD4A$9.DJ4HD$9.A2H2.HA$9.C2AH.HD$11.A3HF$11.B4A$10.HA$10.HA$10.
HA$10.HC$10.HA$10.ID$9.2ID$5.G2DA2.C$6.D5.I$6.D$6.A$6.A$6.C$6.D$6.C$
6.A$6.B$6.A$6.A$6.D$6.A$DCD4A$DJ4HD$A2H2.HA$C2AH.HD$2.A3HF$2.B4A!

It will have been quite striking if it has I suspect because these arm(s) will be the only sequence not advancing within the view. It seems to be an arm that has lost its back, and so the sequence does not move. The sequence will not be identical in every case, but it will share a white block on the end and several blue blocks together near the end. I have seen it come up quite frequently in many varieties of loop and without artificial selection (I know this because I found it quite annoying initially and tried to select it out without success). It seems to come up more frequently in "stabilized" loops or loops that have been run until they do not mutate easily. So I want to know if you all have seen why it forms in a procedural sense, and why it seems to persist in an evolutionary sense. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

[c0b0p0]

So I want to know if you all have seen why it forms in a procedural sense, and why it seems to persist in an evolutionary sense.

State 12 acts as a "sheath-destroyer", as demonstrated in the example below. I cannot find any reason why it would persist in an evolutionary sense.

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x = 10, y = 2, rule = shapeloop-b
L9H$10A!

[Tezcatlipoca]

I ran a little experiment to test whether they can come back from the dormant state with the unbacked arm, that would allow for at least the possibility that it is advantageous over being destroyed totally:

http://pastebin.com/JvwULdTJ

Shortly after the active pattern pushes into the second box you will see one of the loops with the unbacked arm become reactivated and start producing offspring.

Any ideas on how I might better test the question of whether it really is "selection" for genes that favor this behavior or just a quirk from the ruleset's state behaviors?

[c0b0p0]

Here is another bizarre structure in a shapeloop variant.

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x = 27, y = 12, rule = 2armshapeloop2-a
3.ADAD3A2D$3.D6HJC$2ACDH2.I3HB11.KH$A2H2J2.HEAFAFAED3ACDAFA$D7HD3.11H
F$FAFADC5A11.HD$9.2HI10.H3A$23.2HC$24.HD$24.HD$24.HA$24.JDJ!

[c0b0p0]

Here is another bizarre structure in a shapeloop variant.

Here is a bizarre structure with the same behavior.

Code: Select all

x = 9, y = 14, rule = 2armshapeloop2-a
3.C2DCBD$3.D4HD$.3DH2.HD$.DH2I2.HD$.D6HD$.DFDBC2DC$HK$HA$HD$HA$HD$HA$
HD$IAI!