Seeds ( CA ) A typical chaotic pattern in Seeds Seeds is a cellular automaton in the same family as the Game of Life , initially investigated by Brian Silverman and named by Mirek Wójtowicz . It consists of infinite two-dimensional grid of cells , each of which may be in one of two states : on or off . Each cell is considered to have eight neighbors , as in Life . In each time step , a cell turns on if it was off but had exactly two neighors that were on ; all other cells turn off . Thus , in the notation describing the family of cellular automata containing Life , it is described by the rule /2 . In Game of Life terminology , a pattern in which all cells that were on turn off at each step is called a phoenix . All patterns in Seeds have this form . Even though all live cells are constantly dying , the small birth requirement of two cells means that nearly every pattern in Seeds explodes into a chaotic mess that grows to cover the entire universe . However , some patterns are known that behave in a more controlled fashion , repeating the same shape either in the same position of the grid ( an oscillator ) or translated some number of grid units after several steps ( a spaceship ) . More complex rake and puffer patterns are known which move like spaceships leaving trails of oscillators or other spaceships behind them . Most of these patterns move at a speed of one cell per time step ( the so-called speed of light ) including three commonly seen spaceships with four on cells each , but slower-moving patterns are also known . A collection of patterns for the Seeds rule collected by Jason Summers includes patterns found by Stephen Wright , Mirek Wójtowicz , Noam Elkies , Mark Niemiec , Peter Naszvadi , and David Eppstein . External links David Eppstein . Known spaceships for the Seeds rule . Alan Hensel . A Brief Illustrated Glossary of Terms in Conway 's Game of Life . Brian Silverman ( 1996 ) . Changing the Rules . The Virtual Computer . Mirek Wójtowicz . Cellular Automaton Rules Lexicon — Family : Life . Mirek 's Cellebration . Categories : Cellular automaton rules David Eppstein http : //fano.ics.uci.edu/ca/rules/b2s/ Known spaceships for the Seeds rule Alan Hensel http : //www.radicaleye.com/lifepage/glossary.html A Brief Illustrated Glossary of Terms in Conway 's Game of Life Brian Silverman 1996 Changing the Rules http : //www.maa.org/editorial/mathgames/seeds.html The Virtual Computer Mirek Wójtowicz http : //www.mirwoj.opus.chelm.pl/ca/rullex_life.html Cellular Automaton Rules Lexicon — Family : Life Mirek 's Cellebration 