Generating Sequences of Primes in Conway’s Game of Life by Nathaniel Johnston.
From the post:
One of the most interesting patterns that has ever been constructed in Conway’s Game of Life is primer, a gun that fires lightweight spaceships that represent exactly the prime numbers. It was constructed by Dean Hickerson way back in 1991, yet arguably no pattern since then has been constructed that’s as interesting. It seems somewhat counter-intuitive at first that the prime numbers, which seem somehow “random” or “unpredictable”, can be generated by this (relatively simple) pattern in the completely deterministic Game of Life.
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You may not have a favorite Bible verse but surely you have an opinion on whether prime numbers are ‘somehow “random” or “unpredictable,” yes?
Take a break from the drivel that makes up most news feeds and get some real mental exercise.
The link to Conway’s Game of Life in the original post is broken. I have repaired it in the quote.
There is much to explore at: ConwayLife.com.
Enjoy!