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dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 24th, 2024, 1:11 am
by haaaaaands
Mod edit: all questions must have a connection to cellular automata. No personal questions about other users.
why, of all colors, mod edits have to be green?
why did some move accounts? (can't be ban because in that case they wouldn't be able to change signature)
why are most forums so toxic? (e.g. minecraftforum.net)
why am i told to delete system32 in many sites?
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so, as you can see, those really stupid questions that might annoy others can be freely posted here as long as they don't break the forum rules.
if you don't want to read them, just don't read posts here (obvious.)
please refrain from bloating this thread, as that might upset the mods and get this locked.
Re: dumb questions that will probably get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 24th, 2024, 1:17 am
by b-engine
haaaaaands wrote: March 24th, 2024, 1:11 am
why did some move accounts? (can't be ban because in that case they wouldn't be able to change signature)
Well, there's currently no way to rename accounts, so they had to move to the accounts with the new name.
(That happened to me)
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 24th, 2024, 1:26 am
by confocaloid
Why
R64 and
Fx77 exist? Why not R77 and F64?
Why there is
a LoM-based reaction moving with the same speed as the Corderships?
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 24th, 2024, 5:50 am
by Haycat2009
haaaaaands wrote: March 24th, 2024, 1:11 am
why, of all colors, mod edits have to be
green?
That's dvgrn, the most active mod's fav colour - the only reason why it appears to be so is because dvgrn edits are the most common.
Why are there so many search programs that care about period?
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 24th, 2024, 3:11 pm
by olivia enessemir
haaaaaands wrote: March 24th, 2024, 1:11 am
why, of all colors, mod edits have to be
green?
my understanding was that this was to be consistent with the way moderators' names were already colored.
haaaaaands wrote: March 24th, 2024, 1:11 am
why are
most forums so toxic? (e.g. minecraftforum.net)
especially in gaming fora I would expect there to be many teenagers, many of whom aren't terribly mature in their behavior.
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 26th, 2024, 11:08 am
by haaaaaands
why do most math teachers suck so much at teaching math?
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 26th, 2024, 11:53 am
by confocaloid
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 27th, 2024, 5:53 am
by iddi01
haaaaaands wrote:
why are
most forums so toxic? (e.g. minecraftforum.net)
Discord servers are on average much more toxic than forums.
For example, i once joined a server for "Warzone 2100" (which was once my favorite game), which is so toxic, that a highly active user named something like "Peangearocks" abandoned it entirely, and that i left that server (actually i hate Discord so much that i wouldn't have joined if it weren't for the forums for Warzone 2100 being "killed" by Discord.)
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Why is the pre-block in the original diehard facing southwest?
Why does several wiki users flood their user pages with "fun"?
Why does people like posting fuses in the OCA forum?
Why does younger people (like myself a few years ago) like to post phrases with weird or without capitalization?
Why is it so hard to make a rule become famous nowadays?
Why is every subforum except OCA, patterns, and sandbox quite inactive?
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 27th, 2024, 8:37 am
by b-engine
iddi01 wrote: March 27th, 2024, 5:53 am
Why is the pre-block in the original diehard facing southwest?
Why does several wiki users flood their user pages with "fun"?
Why does people like posting fuses in the OCA forum?
Why does younger people (like myself a few years ago) like to post phrases with weird or without capitalization?
Why is it so hard to make a rule become famous nowadays?
Why is every subforum except OCA, patterns, and sandbox quite inactive?
1. It doesn't care about orientation. However the the variant with block facing southwest seems to be the one first discovered.
2. They like to have fun.
3. Fuses seems to be the easiest to make out of all patterns.
4. Apparently I never done that even I'm only over a decade old...
5. Yes if new objects in that rule are hard to discover.
6. Making notable posts are apparently harder in those subforums.
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Why INT rules are the most explored rules?
Why most newcomers don't read the forum rules?
Why 3-state rules are rarely found on forums?
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 27th, 2024, 8:43 am
by Haycat2009
b-engine wrote: March 27th, 2024, 8:37 am
Why INT rules are the most explored rules?
Why most newcomers don't read the forum rules?
Why 3-state rules are rarely found on forums?
They are a balance of control and challenge, easy enough to allow a whole level of possibilities but hard enough to not allow exact control of transitions for each state.
Newcomers do not click on the rules thread. Maybe they think that they have enough experience or that common sense is all that is needed - but there are more subtle and new rules
They are too easy to control, so making one good for tech is not much of a feat. DO not forget that you can make the states do ANYTHING you want!
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 27th, 2024, 9:43 am
by confocaloid
b-engine wrote: March 27th, 2024, 8:37 amWhy 3-state rules are rarely found on forums?
Haycat2009 wrote: March 27th, 2024, 8:43 amThey are too easy to control, so making one good for tech is not much of a feat.
"Too easy to control" does not seem correct, considering there are 3^9 = 19683 three-state 3x3 conditions (compared to 2^9 = 512 two-state 3x3 conditions) and approximately 1/8 of that after reducing by rotations and reflections (2862 three-state isotropic 3x3 conditions, compared to 102 two-state isotropic 3x3 conditions). Being overwhelmed by different possibilities is an opposite of "easy to control".
iddi01 wrote: March 27th, 2024, 5:53 amWhy is it so hard to make a rule become famous nowadays?
I'd say if someone wants their rule to become "famous", they are probably missing the whole idea of the hobby. Most really interesting rules were never "famous" and will never become "famous", but of course that doesn't in any way prevent on-topic discussion of those rules / sharing discoveries and ideas.
iddi01 wrote: March 27th, 2024, 5:53 amWhy is every subforum except OCA, patterns, and sandbox quite inactive?
Why they need to be more active than they are? Some subforums are already a bit too active, sometimes to the point of becoming a distraction from Life/CA.
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 28th, 2024, 4:51 am
by b-engine
1a. Why some newcomers getting images from playgameoflife.com instead of getting RLE from LifeViewer?
1b. Why there's no way to extract RLE from playgameoflife.com patterns?
1c. Why playgameoflife.com is far more popular than conwaylife.com (the homepage and the LifeViewer), even if the controls in it seems to be harder than LifeViewer?
2. Why elementary spaceships are harder to find than engineered spaceship, and why engineered spaceships with new speeds are harder to make than one with known speeds?
3. Why new period (excluding glider loops) oscillators are hard to find without using scripts?
4. Why B2a is needed for a photon to exists?
5. Why there're only few rules are universal?
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 28th, 2024, 9:06 am
by hotdogPi
b-engine wrote: March 28th, 2024, 4:51 am
1a. Why some newcomers getting images from playgameoflife.com instead of getting RLE from LifeViewer?
It ranks higher in Google search results.
b-engine wrote: March 28th, 2024, 4:51 am
1b. Why there's no way to extract RLE from playgameoflife.com patterns?
I suggested a few days ago creating a script that analyzes playgameoflife images. There was already a script written for the back of the CGOL textbook, so the code should be very similar.
b-engine wrote: March 28th, 2024, 4:51 am
1c. Why playgameoflife.com is far more popular than conwaylife.com (the homepage and the LifeViewer), even if the controls in it seems to be harder than LifeViewer?
Again, search rankings. playgameoflife is also more intuitive. In some ways, LifeViewer and Golly are equivalent to a $600 paid software like AutoCAD or Finale.
b-engine wrote: March 28th, 2024, 4:51 am
2. Why elementary spaceships are harder to find than engineered spaceship, and why engineered spaceships with new speeds are harder to make than one with known speeds?
Elementary spaceships period 5 and below are considered uninteresting, 6 and 7 take days to months, and 8+ can't really be found this way except with luck. As for "active regions reappear shifted X cells", that's what a switch engine does, but other than that, we've done over a trillion symmetric soups and a quadrillion total ones and found nothing.
b-engine wrote: March 28th, 2024, 4:51 am
3. Why new period (excluding glider loops) oscillators are hard to find without using scripts?
Because they require an active region to reform in the same position. That said, it can sometimes be done by combining existing oscillators or partials, such as some of the traffic light shuttles in the 1990s.
b-engine wrote: March 28th, 2024, 4:51 am
4. Why B2a is needed for a photon to exists?
B2a pushes both cells at the edge forward. Other B2 transitions don't. That said, there are some photons in carefully crafted B1e rules.
b-engine wrote: March 28th, 2024, 4:51 am
5. Why there're only few rules are universal?
This probably isn't the case; we just haven't explored that many.
Re: dumb questions that will probably get answered
Posted: March 28th, 2024, 9:36 am
by b-engine
1. Why the first CA has 29 states?
-
2. How playgameoflife has made it's way to the high rank in Google search results?
3. Why we can't just disallow playgameoflife here?
4. Why playgameoflife controls are designed to only allow users to make small patterns?
Fortunately this makes us able to redraw them easily in Golly or LifeViewer.
- I could make this within the boundary of my phone
- Screenshot_2024-03-28-21-38-34-67_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.jpg (46.81 KiB) Viewed 10921 times
Code: Select all
#C the screenshot above redrawn in LifeViewer
x = 12, y = 12, rule = B3/S23
bo$2bo$3o3$10b2o$10b2o3$9b2o$8bo2bo$9b2o!
5. Why playgameoflife is very limited, even if LifeViewer cost the same as it (and conwaylife.com is at the top three when I search "conway's life")?
I'm very worried about playgameoflife overtaking Golly & Lifeviewer, after d/dx's first post.
6. Why it's so hard to make notable discoveries in B3/S23?
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 28th, 2024, 10:12 am
by iddi01
playgameoflife.com reminds me so much of
this bad little program i used to play CGoL with, with the advantage of being able to drag around.
(interestingly, the speed, colors, and icons are all very similar. Are they made by the same person?)
hotdogPi wrote:
In some ways, LifeViewer and Golly are equivalent to a $600 paid software like AutoCAD or Finale.
:O :O :O
o o
O
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 28th, 2024, 10:15 am
by b-engine
iddi01 wrote: March 28th, 2024, 10:12 am
playgameoflife.com reminds me so much of
this bad little program i used to play CGoL with, with the advantage of being able to drag around.
(interestingly, the speed, colors, and icons are all very similar. Are they made by the same person?)
I think it is, but since it's no longer available, I can't verify.
-
7. Why ruletables/trees are bulky?
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 28th, 2024, 10:42 am
by Haycat2009
b-engine wrote: March 28th, 2024, 10:15 am
7. Why ruletables/trees are bulky?
You need to list every transition, and you cannot make it so that some parts use permute and others use none.
8. Why is playgameoflife.com so limited and yet google favours it? I am not a reverse engineer.
9. Who would pay $600/ $2800 (I had to convert Zumalandian thalers to Singapore dollars) for such software?
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 28th, 2024, 10:45 am
by confocaloid
b-engine wrote: March 28th, 2024, 10:15 am7. Why ruletables/trees are bulky?
That is more or less the price of flexibility when combined with simplicity.
How would you make ruletables less bulky, without losing either flexibility (being able to encode so many different cellular automata) or simplicity of the syntax?
Even non-isotropic two-state ruletables feel more intuitive to work with, compared to MAP rulestrings.
Each line in the main part of a ruletable encodes a single rule. Sometimes it will be possible to use variables to reduce the number of rules written explicitly in the ruletable. But then you'll need to define variables.
IIRC if a matching rule is not found, the default is "no change". So an empty two-state "neighborhood: Moore" ruletable would work the same way as B/S012345678 does, and an empty 256-state ruletable would work as
Rule:Display256 (except maybe with a different palette). That default can be changed by appending a single catch-all line at the end, for example
Code: Select all
any, any1, any2, any3, any4, any5, any6, any7, any8, 0
with variables defined as (assuming a two-state CA)
Code: Select all
var any={0,1}
var any1=any
var any2=any
var any3=any
var any4=any
var any5=any
var any6=any
var any7=any
var any8=any
Code: Select all
symmetry: permute
0, 1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0, 1 # rule B3
1, 1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0, 1 # rule S2
1, 1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0, 1 # rule S3
any, any1, any2, any3, any4, any5, any6, any7, any8, 0 # everything else becomes 0
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 28th, 2024, 10:47 am
by confocaloid
Haycat2009 wrote: March 28th, 2024, 10:42 am
8. Why is playgameoflife.com so limited and yet google favours it? I am not a reverse engineer.
Because it is so limited. When you give too much flexibility to newcomers, they won't be able to know what to do with it.
Again, being overwhelmed by different possibilities is an opposite of "easy to control".
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 28th, 2024, 1:29 pm
by d/dx
Can we resurrect John Horton Conway using a p160 puffer glider rake (4,9)c/160 knightship spaceship breeder hassler?
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 31st, 2024, 9:42 am
by tommyaweosme
iddi01 wrote: March 27th, 2024, 5:53 am
Why does younger people (like myself a few years ago) like to post phrases with weird or without capitalization?
idk about the rest of the people that use it, but i do it because of my
unstoppable aesthetic
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 31st, 2024, 10:29 am
by haaaaaands
tommyaweosme wrote: March 31st, 2024, 9:42 am
iddi01 wrote: March 27th, 2024, 5:53 am
Why does younger people (like myself a few years ago) like to post phrases with weird or without capitalization?
idk about the rest of the people that use it, but i do it because of my
unstoppable aesthetic
i do it because my shift key is pretty tight
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 31st, 2024, 10:51 am
by b-engine
haaaaaands wrote: March 31st, 2024, 10:29 am
i do it because my shift key is pretty tight
Just keep pressing your shift key using brute force no matter how hard it be, then I think the shift key would no longer be tight.
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: March 31st, 2024, 3:34 pm
by C_R_116
haaaaaands wrote: March 31st, 2024, 10:29 am
tommyaweosme wrote: March 31st, 2024, 9:42 am
iddi01 wrote: March 27th, 2024, 5:53 am
Why does younger people (like myself a few years ago) like to post phrases with weird or without capitalization?
idk about the rest of the people that use it, but i do it because of my
unstoppable aesthetic
i do it because my shift key is pretty tight
I Do The Opposite.
Re: dumb questions that will probably never get answered (at least here)
Posted: April 7th, 2024, 10:17 pm
by b-engine
10. Is 3-state OT having same possibilities as 2-state INT? I'm now focusing on 3-state OTCA.
11. What's the most chaotic non-explosive rule? (This means that soups last extremely long and apgsearch will do poorly on those rules)