A row of cells. Eight local decisions. An unfolding world of structure and surprise.
Elementary cellular automata / Rule 30
A single occupied cell produces an asymmetric mixture of regular edges and irregular detail. Deterministic rules can create patterns that look unpredictable.
SPACE → cells 0–256TIME ↓ generations 0–0
Bright = 1 · dark = 0. Color changes with row position for presentation only. Scroll to pan. Tap or click a cell to inspect it and pause. Latest 512 rows retained.
Eight neighborhoods. One rule.
Tap an output to change the rule and restart.
Same behavior, relabeled:Rule 30 names this class, one of 88 distinct elementary rules.
Paused preview: 160 computed generations. Restart to begin at row zero.
Changing the rule, boundary, or width starts a new run. Share links and imports preserve all recorded steps and edits; large experiments are replayed in small batches and may need a file instead of a link. Playback starts paused and pauses when this experiment leaves the screen.
Read the pattern.
Each row is one moment in time. A cell looks at itself and its two neighbors in the previous row. The selected rule chooses its next state. All cells update together. Time runs down the canvas; space runs across it.
Simple does not mean predictable.
These are deterministic mathematical models, not biological simulations. Their appearance alone does not establish chaos or computational universality. Boundary conditions and starting states matter.