Replicators: B01367/S01

In B01367/S01, a 1x2 block forms an unstable replicator; it can be stabilized by making four copies of itself, forming a 10c/20 replicator.

B01367/S01 10c/20 replicator

These replicators can be stabilized by pairs of small oscillators, making larger replicator-based oscillators. The one below has period 60.

B01367/S01 p60
replicator-based oscillator

With random initial conditions, this rule fills space with a chaotic pattern of interacting replicators. If the initial density of live cells is approximately 35%, the pattern also features large regions of opposite phases (live replicators on dead backgrounds in even generations, or vice versa) with slowly annealing region boundaries. For densities away from this critical value, one phase or the other eventually takes over the whole space.


Replicators -- Cellular Automata -- D. Eppstein -- UCI Inf. & Comp. Sci.