Algorithmic Specified Complexity Pt. 2: Conway’s Game of Life

On this ID The Future from the vault, Robert J. Marks and Winston Ewert, both of the Evolutionary Informatics Lab, discuss John Conway’s Game of Life, played on a rectangular grid. In the game, cells live or die depending on the cells that surround them. Hobbyists have designed highly complex patterns using Conway’s four simple rules of birth, death and survival. Patterns include oscillators, spaceships and glider guns. Ewert explains how the theory of algorithmic specified complexity can be applied to the game and to exploring design questions. The discussion centers around a peer-reviewed journal article by Ewert, Marks, and William Dembski: “Algorithmic Specified Complexity in the Game of Life.”