2293: RIP John Conway - Revision history

FaviFake at 11:52, 11 May 2025

2025-05-11T11:52:27Z

FaviFake: Why a table?

2025-05-11T10:15:59Z

Why a table?

FaviFake: /* Issues with some clients */

2025-05-11T10:01:45Z

‎Issues with some clients

172.70.58.6: Undo revision 362015 by 162.158.193.151 (talk) Insufficiently thought through.

2025-01-14T00:42:20Z

Undo revision 362015 by 162.158.193.151 (talk) Insufficiently thought through.

162.158.193.151 at 00:15, 14 January 2025

2025-01-14T00:15:35Z

162.158.33.216: Undo revision 350829 by Squishmallow fan (talk) Not sure why changed. (And case was ruined, easier to undo than fix the strange re-ordering.)

2024-09-20T19:40:44Z

Undo revision 350829 by Squishmallow fan (talk) Not sure why changed. (And case was ruined, easier to undo than fix the strange re-ordering.)

Squishmallow fan at 02:03, 20 September 2024

2024-09-20T02:03:03Z

172.70.162.186: Undo revision 347047 by 108.162.221.62 (talk) Not sure why this informative text was removed.

2024-07-24T14:31:22Z

Undo revision 347047 by 108.162.221.62 (talk) Not sure why this informative text was removed.

108.162.221.62: /* Table of generations */

2024-07-24T14:03:22Z

‎Table of generations

CommentGarage: Please create my user talk page.

2024-06-26T11:37:19Z

Please create my user talk page.

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 ===Generations===
-<gallery mode="nolines" widths="500px" heights="1000px">
+<gallery mode="nolines" widths="220px" heights="300px">
 File:Generation 0.jpg | Starting state (or "zeroth generation").

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
-{{w|John Horton Conway|John Conway}}, an English mathematician, passed away of [[:Category:COVID-19|COVID-19]] on April 11, 2020. ([http://conwaylife.com/wiki/Conway Alternative link]) Two days later, [[Randall]] created this [[:Category:Tribute|memorial comic]]. It is the 6th memorial comic, but it is the first released in almost 5 years, since [[1560: Bubblegum]].
+{{w|John Horton Conway|John Conway}}, an English mathematician, passed away of [[:Category:COVID-19|COVID-19]] on April 11, 2020. ([http://conwaylife.com/wiki/Conway Alternative link]) Two days later, [[Randall]] created this [[:Category:Tribute|memorial comic]]. It is the 6th memorial comic, but it is the first released in almost 5 years, since [[1560: Bubblegum]]. Conway's most famous creations was the {{w|cellular automaton}} known as {{w|Conway's Game of Life}}. A cellular automaton is a machine composed of cells, each of which can be in a different state. Every generation, each cell in the automaton may transition to a new state depending on a set of rules. (Conway's work in mathematics was vast and various, but he is perhaps best known in the field for discovering the {{w|surreal numbers}}, which inspired [[Donald Knuth]] to write a novel which may have been referenced back in [[505: A Bunch of Rocks]].)
-One of Conway's most famous creations was the {{w|cellular automaton}} known as {{w|Conway's Game of Life}}. A cellular automaton is a machine composed of cells, each of which can be in a different state. Every generation, each cell in the automaton may transition to a new state depending on a set of rules. (Conway's work in mathematics was vast and various, but he is perhaps best known in the field for discovering the {{w|surreal numbers}}, which inspired [[Donald Knuth]] to write a novel which may have been referenced back in [[505: A Bunch of Rocks]].)
+Conway's Game of Life was first popularized to the general public in the form of a game, Life Genesis, bundled into some distributions of Windows 3.1, an operating system from the early-90s that Randall most likely used in his preteen years. Conway's Game of Life is a 2-state automaton (i.e., every cell can be "alive" or "dead") that is implemented on a two-dimensional grid of cells using the {{w|Moore neighborhood}} - this means that each cell can only be influenced by the eight cells directly surrounding it, both orthogonally and diagonally. The transition rules that Conway used are as follows:
-Conway's Game of Life was first popularized to the general public in the form of a game, Life Genesis, bundled into some distributions of Windows 3.1, an operating system from the early-90s that Randall most likely used in his preteen years.
+* If an "alive" cell has no live neighbors, or only one live neighbor, it becomes "dead". (This simulates death by isolation).
-Conway's Game of Life is a 2-state automaton (i.e., every cell can be "alive" or "dead") that is implemented on a two-dimensional grid of cells using the {{w|Moore neighborhood}} - this means that each cell can only be influenced by the eight cells directly surrounding it, both orthogonally and diagonally. The transition rules that Conway used are as follows:
+* If an "alive" cell has four or more live neighbors, it becomes "dead". (This simulates death by overcrowding).
 * If a "dead" cell has exactly three live neighbors, it becomes "alive". (This simulates birth).
@@ Line 28: / Line 26: @@
 The initial state presented in the comic does actually evolve in that manner, as can be verified by entering the pattern into a cellular automaton simulator such as [http://golly.sourceforge.net/ Golly] or web services such as [https://bitstorm.org/gameoflife/ this one] or [http://catagolue.hatsya.com/object/xkcd_48jsj8gzwe9e/b3s23 that one]. It seems that no one else have created this pattern before. At least, despite discussion in the comments, no one has found anything to show that this is not Randall's own discovery of this pattern.
-The title text simply states Conway's birth and death year: 1937-2020.
+The title text simply states Conway's birth and death year: 1937-2020. Conway's Game of Life was previously mentioned in [[696: Strip Games]]. Cellular automata was also referenced in [[505: A Bunch of Rocks]].
-Conway's Game of Life was previously mentioned in [[696: Strip Games]]. Cellular automata was also referenced in [[505: A Bunch of Rocks]].
+File:Generation 8.jpg | Eighth generation. The glider returns to its first shape, pointing right instead of up.
-This comic is the 18th comic in a row (not counting the [[2288: Collector's Edition|April Fools' comic]]) in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}}. Although this comic is, of course, mainly a tribute to John Conway, the fact that he died of COVID-19 in the middle of this long series of coronavirus-related comics by Randall is relevant.
+File:Generation 9.jpg | Ninth generation. The glider's second shape again, pointing right instead of up.
-==Table of generations==
+File:Generation 10.jpg | Tenth generation. The glider is now in its original form, but one cell higher and one cell to the right.  It will continue to progress, cycling through these four states every four generations.  The remains of the chaos down below will take two more generations to disappear completely.
-{| class="wikitable"
+</gallery>
 ==Transcript==

@@ Line 69: / Line 69: @@
 * "XKCD RIP John Conway" has been cited on [http://conwaylife.com/wiki/Pure_glider_generator LifeWiki]
 * "XKCD RIP John Conway" is now available on [http://catagolue.hatsya.com/object/xkcd_48jsj8gzwe9e/b3s23 Catagolue] <!-- Catagolue is down at the moment in some places -->
 {{comic discussion}}

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:42, 14 January 2025
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	==Explanation==		==Explanation==
−	~~is 8th animated comic.~~
−
	{{w\|John Horton Conway\|John Conway}}, an English mathematician, passed away of [[:Category:COVID-19\|COVID-19]] on April 11, 2020. ([http://conwaylife.com/wiki/Conway Alternative link]) Two days later, [[Randall]] created this [[:Category:Tribute\|memorial comic]]. It is the 6th memorial comic, but it is the first released in almost 5 years, since [[1560: Bubblegum]].		{{w\|John Horton Conway\|John Conway}}, an English mathematician, passed away of [[:Category:COVID-19\|COVID-19]] on April 11, 2020. ([http://conwaylife.com/wiki/Conway Alternative link]) Two days later, [[Randall]] created this [[:Category:Tribute\|memorial comic]]. It is the 6th memorial comic, but it is the first released in almost 5 years, since [[1560: Bubblegum]].

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:15, 14 January 2025
Line 8:		Line 8:

	==Explanation==		==Explanation==
		+	is 8th animated comic.
		+
	{{w\|John Horton Conway\|John Conway}}, an English mathematician, passed away of [[:Category:COVID-19\|COVID-19]] on April 11, 2020. ([http://conwaylife.com/wiki/Conway Alternative link]) Two days later, [[Randall]] created this [[:Category:Tribute\|memorial comic]]. It is the 6th memorial comic, but it is the first released in almost 5 years, since [[1560: Bubblegum]].		{{w\|John Horton Conway\|John Conway}}, an English mathematician, passed away of [[:Category:COVID-19\|COVID-19]] on April 11, 2020. ([http://conwaylife.com/wiki/Conway Alternative link]) Two days later, [[Randall]] created this [[:Category:Tribute\|memorial comic]]. It is the 6th memorial comic, but it is the first released in almost 5 years, since [[1560: Bubblegum]].

@@ Line 53: / Line 53: @@
 |[[File:Generation 6.jpg|thumb]]||Sixth generation. The first appearance of the {{w|Glider (Conway's Life)|glider}}, a well-known formation in Conway's Game of Life.
 |-
-|[[File:Generation 7.jpg|thumb]]||Seventh generation.
+|[[File:Generation 7.jpg|thumb]]||Seventh generation. The glider takes on its other shape.
 |-
-|[[File:Generation 8.jpg|thumb]]||Eighth generation.
+|[[File:Generation 8.jpg|thumb]]||Eighth generation. The glider returns to its first shape, pointing right instead of up.
 |-
-|[[File:Generation 9.jpg|thumb]]||Ninth generation.
+|[[File:Generation 9.jpg|thumb]]||Ninth generation. The glider's second shape again, pointing right instead of up.
 |-
-|[[File:Generation 10.jpg|thumb]]||Tenth generation. The remains of the chaos down below will take two more generations to disappear completely.
+|[[File:Generation 10.jpg|thumb]]||Tenth generation. The glider is now in its original form, but one cell higher and one cell to the right.  It will continue to progress, cycling through these four states every four generations.  The remains of the chaos down below will take two more generations to disappear completely.
 |}

@@ Line 68: / Line 68: @@
 * "XKCD RIP John Conway" has been cited on [http://conwaylife.com/wiki/Pure_glider_generator LifeWiki]
-* "XKCD RIP John Conway" is now available on [http://catagolue.hatsya.com/object/xkcd_48jsj8gzwe9e/b3s23 Catagolue] <!-- Catagolue is down at the moment in some places. Please create my talk page. -->
+* "XKCD RIP John Conway" is now available on [http://catagolue.hatsya.com/object/xkcd_48jsj8gzwe9e/b3s23 Catagolue] <!-- Catagolue is down at the moment in some places -->
 ==Issues with some clients==