Parasite

A parasite is a self-sustaining reaction attached to the output of a rake or puffer, that damages or modifies the standard output; compare tagalong.

In 2009, while experimenting with novelty generator patterns in Golly, Mitchell Riley discovered parasites on glider streams from p20 and p8 backrakes. In some cases, parasites can even "reproduce", as in the pattern below, though the number of copies is limited since they will eventually use up their host glider stream:

#C Example of a parasite. #C http://conwaylife.com/wiki/Parasite x = 30, y = 45, rule = B3/S23 6bo13bo$5b3o11b3o$3b2ob3o9b3ob2o$4bo2bob2o5b2obo2bo$b2obo4bobo3bobo4bo b2o$b2obobo2bob2ob2obo2bobob2o$bo8bobobobo8bo$2o7b2obobob2o7b2o$12bobo $7b3obo3bob3o$6b2o11b2o$6bo5bo4b2o2bo$5b2o4b3o3b2o2bo$11bob2o3b3o$12b 3o4bo$12b3o$12b3o$12b2o2$19bobo$20b2o$15b2o3bo$8b2o6b2o$7b2o6bo$9bo3$ 17b2o$10bo6b3o$9b3obo3b3o$8b2obo5b3o$8b2o6bob2o$8b2o6b3o4b2o$8b2ob2o4b o5bo$9b2o11b2o$10b3obo3bob3o$15bobo$3b2o7b2obobob2o7b2o$4bo8bobobobo8b o$4b2obobo2bob2ob2obo2bobob2o$4b2obo4bobo3bobo4bob2o$7bo2bob2o5b2obo2b o$6b2ob3o9b3ob2o$8b3o11b3o$9bo13bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 WIDTH 640 HEIGHT 640 ]]

(click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here

Also see

• Tagalong

External links

• Parasite at the Life Lexicon