Bio

Paul Kassebaum is currently a fourth-year mechanical engineering student at the Cooper Union in New York City. He is interested in philosophy, thermodynamics, music, art, math, and NKS. His other interests include playing piano.

Project: Investigating Reversible, Elementary Cellular Automata

Great insight into the intimate workings of fundamental physics has already been gained by studying reversible, elementary cellular automata; so much so that further investigation into this sort of simple program is wholly warranted. Reversible, elementary CAs that look out a distance away were investigated using such methods as difference and diffusion patterns. Reversible CAs were found to grow in various ways that are distinctly different from their non-reversible counterparts. Difference patterns revealed the peculiar ways that information flows through RCAs.

Favorite Four-Color, Nearest-Neighbor, Totalistic Rule

Rule chosen: 627483

I found it by simply rummaging around. We can see something like a nesting pattern, but not quite. Each nested triangle is unique, except for its mirrored version through the center line. What’s interesting is that this CA is analogous to nesting structures in nature that typically contain minor imperfections.