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Explorative cellular automata visualisation
2018 | Programming, Animation | Javascript, HTML, CSS, p5.js
Zellmemore.de is an online project that offers the possibility to explore the principle of cellular automata with different interactive graphic interpretations of the so called elementar cellular automata. These mathematical models of self-organized systems that repeatedly apply a simple algorithm on themselves. Despite - or probably due to? – being so simple, their behavior is of astonishing complexity. Even more intriguingly, these systems with roots in theoretical computer science find use in many fields.
From the answer to the question why we get stuck in traffic for no reason to the ultimate question of Life, the Universe, and Everything: they give answers to scientific questions, but also raise questions about the connection between nature and numbers.
Explorative Cellular Automata Visualisation was part of my bachelor thesis.
You can read read it here (in German).
The common depiction of cellular automata as rows of black and white squares can be used as a reference.
There are 12 visualisations to choose from on the website that depict different aspects of elementary cellular automata. Users may experiment with ruleset, initial states, the number of cells and the edge behaviour of the automaton.
Examples of the graphics produced by automata with different configurations
Zellmemore in exhibition