Clock insertion

Clock insertion is a uniquely effective method of adding a glider to the front edge of a salvo, by first constructing a clock, then converting it to a glider using a one-bit spark. Here it rebuilds a sabotaged glider in a deep pocket between other gliders:

#C http://conwaylife.com/wiki/Clock_insertion x = 59, y = 57, rule = B3/S23 50bo$50bobo$50b2o$47bo6bo$46bo6bo$46b3o4b3o2$43bo6bo$43bobo4bobo5bo$ 43b2o5b2o4b2o$40bo7bo8b2o$39bo$39b3o11bobo$53b2o$54bo$o50bo$b2o46b2o$ 2o48b2o8$29bo$20bo6bobo$18bobo7b2o$19b2o$25bo$26bo4b3o$24b3o4bo$32bo$ 37b2o$28b2o7bobo$28bobo6bo$28bo18$45b2o$45bobo$45bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ ZOOM 10 THUMBSIZE 2 WIDTH 640 HEIGHT 640 GPS 12 THEME Book AUTOSTART T 0 PAUSE 3 T 36 PAUSE 1 T 72 PAUSE 1 T 92 PAUSE 1 T 149 PAUSE 1 LOOP 150 ]]

(click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here

In 2015, Chris Cain used this reaction to demonstrate conclusively that any unidirectional glider salvo, no matter how large or tightly packed, can be constructed by collisions between gliders that are initially separated by any finite distance. As a corollary, because all glider syntheses are made up of two to four unidirectional salvos, any glider-constructible object has a synthesis that starts with every glider at least N cells away from every other glider (for any chosen N).

External links

• Clock insertion at the Life Lexicon