> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > * What is a _reversible_ Life game? I suppose this is no Life game > > > at all, but some kind of zip/compress utility > > > > This is just Brin taking liberties with the narrative. To make Life > > reversible would require enough changes to the system that it wouldn't be > > recognizeable as Life anymore. The reason you can't use a Life grid as a > > form of encryption is that you can't reverse the process. Brin takes > > many liberties with Life in the book. Gliders do not bounce off of walls > > or artificial boundaries (borders). etc. > > I could be totally clueless, but recall my internal visual image of "Life" > was rather like Othello with "rebounding borders". The black/white, on/off, > 0/1 nature of this type of set up allowed me to think easily of the computer > imaging as a result. Really it's a grid with theretically infinite boundaries. You can impose artificial boundaries on the grid, but these interect with the life organisms very strangely. I don't think it's possible to create rules for the edges that 'rebound' gliders or other life constructs.
