> > The Fool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > >> Oh, but what is called a "reversible game" can't be > >> a reversible game, because at the end there is an > >> empty screen - so I thought that maybe it was just > >> a fancy nickname to some kind of zip. > > > >The way I read it the _rules_ for that particular version of life allowed > >it to be reversible. Zip files are compressed files. I think you mean > >some kind of database archive. > > > What is mean is: > (a) the Life set can be used as a computer [as we will learn from the > next chapters, sp. Chapter 12] > (b) The information from that specific variant seems to be > compressed [again, from information from Chapter 12] > > (a) + (b) suggests that this "VARIANT RULE: RVRSBL CA 879W" > is no Life variant at all, but just a fancy program that compresses > bits. That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about how the life game itself can be used as a computer. In other words you could set up a Life grid in such a way that it could calculate things, like say pi. There is a book by Martin Gardener that contains all the original scientific american articles. It's titled something like (This is not exact): 'Life, Circles and other math games'. Your library may have it (it's very old). Or you could find the old scientific american articles. They may even be on the web somewhere.
