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What is a beautiful concept or idea that continues to blow your mind? (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

152 comments fedilink hide all child comments

For me it is Cellular Automata, and more precisely the Game of Life.

Imagine a giant Excel spreadsheet where the cells are randomly chosen to be either "alive" or "dead". Each cell then follows a handful of simple rules.

For example, if a cell is "alive" but has less than 2 "alive" neighbors it "dies" by under-population. If the cell is "alive" and has more than three "alive" neighbors it "dies" from over-population, etc.

Then you sit back and just watch things play out. It turns out that these basic rules at the individual level lead to incredibly complex behaviors at the community level when you zoom out.

It kinda, sorta, maybe resembles... life.

There is colonization, reproduction, evolution, and sometimes even space flight!

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thermoses. They keep hot stuff hot. They keep cold stuff cold. No touchscreen or controls whatsoever. How does it know?

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

On the chance you're not just making a funny - The walls of your house keep inside stuff inside and outside stuff outside. A thermos is just a wall for heat, whether that heat is trying to get in or out.

[–] stinkypoopsalot 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are you saying I live in a thermos?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I suppose you could model the Earth as a thermos, or some type of vacuum flask.