The Game of Life:
Fuses.
Maths Workshop
 
The harvester.

The harvester oscillates with period 4, moving upwards along an infinite diagonal and ejecting stable packages along the way.

On account of the lack of infinity in our mini-world, which was mentioned earlier, we have had to make a slight change to the end of its path in order for the pattern to remain stable. Consequently, when the pattern reaches the end of its path, its evolution differs from what you would expect. Hypothetically speaking, if the path were infinite the pattern would continue forever without ever changing.

Fuses.

The harvester is an example of a group of forms known as FUSES. A fuse configuration usually consists of a stem (although not always) which "burns" steadily from one end towards the other.

Although the stem is usually infinite in length, we have had to make slight adjustments, as was the case in the section above, to allow the fuses to be adapted to our mini-world. 

Trying things out.

See if you can come up with your own fuses in the following window:

       
           
  José Luis Alonso Borrego.
 
Spanish Ministry of Education. Year 2001
 
 

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