John H Conway on his love/hate relationship with his most "famous" invention. Conway playlist: bit.ly/ConwayNumberphile
More on how he invented it at: • Inventing Game of Life...
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Sad that he passed. I hope when Google decides to make a Doodle in remembrance of him, they watch this video and highlight some of the other great things he did in the Google Doodle.
You gotta send 500 emails to Google to remind them that jon would not like to just be remembered because of his game of life in the brains of the majority of ppl Sry for bad english
@@greenblood2313 google (kind of) did that. Search Conway's game of life and on the side you should see a game of Conway's game of life!
Actually if you go into a google doc and press ctrl+alt+shift+e followed by ctrl+alt+shift+c and you will be able to play
Huxley VAP also if you go into a google doc and press ctrl+alt+shift+e followed by ctrl+alt+shift+c and you will be able to play
@@agentg5233 did not work...
R.I.P Conway. The cells in the game you made is living forever.
What if the cells die off. What happens then?
Damn covid:/
Oscillators never die.
@@sankang9425 they dont, but they can be intercepted by other groups of cells, and this new set of cells can shape in a pattern in which they die out
F
"who would've thought? well I thought but..." haha best line in the video.
"who would've though? well I though but typically one doesn't think.."
Steve Wolfram has done a much better and more thorough job analyzing that sort of phenomenon
Mr. Conway, at the age of 7 (20 years ago), I played with a Game of Life simulation written in TI-BASIC, and it is what sparked my interested in programming. I can't thank you enough for it. It will always be very special to me.
I think you are far from alone in being inspired by this
Mr. Conway may be right that the Game of Life is not the most genius thing he did with math, but for sure it is one of the most important things done for young people looking for something to study. I think, that this drew many people to math and especially computer science. And to make it a little more clear: i did not say "the most important thing done by him".
32 years
Actually, this falls in the class of what one would call an Incomplete Discovery. That's a partial discovery of something that *still* has (or had) not yet been fully discovered. In this case, the complete discovery is Life With Color! A second rule to determine how a cell is colored. That leads from Life to Competition/War/Conquest/Colonization/etc. Without fully realizing it (until now), you missed out on the *real* fun. I devised and implemented that long ago. I'll have to reverse-compile the source code, I only have the executable now. There are no other copies (yet).
@@RockBrentwood can you please elaborate?
You guys should have asked what his other achievements were, the ones that he felt were overshadowed by GOL.
His opinion towards GOL reminds me of Anthony Burgess' towards A Clockwork Orange.
Reminds me of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes.
Yeah, like his contributions to number theory, group theory, topology, and theoretical physics. Also, the Doomsday rule is pretty cool.
Also reminds me of Tolkien. Poor guy just wanted some story to showcase the languages he created (and to be fair, those are still some of the most well-made languages in fiction to date). I also don't understand why Mr. Conway would say that his Game of Life is "not interesting". Given the very generic rules: 1. Cells die if less than X neighbors 2. Cells die if more than Y neighbors 3. Cells are created if Z neighbors If you tweak the variables a bit, you could even use it to generate a rather nice cave system - if you're making a roguelike.
Mario Prawirosudiro, Tolkien was also very passionate about his legendarium. He did create it as a place where his languages would have life, but he spent most of his life writing thousands of years of history in that world.
The thing that's cool about the Game of Life is that it shows how complexity can emerge from a very simple set of rules.
I picture chess being like game of life.
neiio not exactly. While chess, having simple rules, gives rise to complexity, it doesn't do so like this game. The complexity in chess is due to the sheer number of possible games. At every step you can make many sensible moves. The game of life has a specific move for every step. You set innitial conditions and wait for it to evolve... no decision making here, it just interacts and follows rules. By chess' logic then anything can give rise to complexity (even something as simple as a dice).
+Xeno426 You should try to play the Game of Go (Jap: igo, Korean: baduk). A board game that is about a couple of thousand years old, reminds me a bit of the Game of Life to be honest.
thats what girlfriends use
Does the complexity emerge from the rules, or the concept of time?
1. Make a Conway's Game of Life (perhaps in 3D.) 2. Find the perfect set of rules and a computer with enough RAM and CPU to simulate 14 billion years of the Game of Life. 3. Intelligent beings evolve in the game, eventually inventing their own computers. 4. They make their own Games of life. 5. Repeat from step 2
Rinse and repeat and you have the entire cosmos, implicit and explicit. See, the truth is that life started highly technogically advanced, then de evolved to simple planetary systems and their simple organisms. Ofcourse they did not truly de evolve but it appears that way to us because we are watching the Earth life simulation unfold, real time. Then those planetary systems and their simple organism evolved into more complex psychologically and technologically "self aware" systems sort of speak. The only reason we were not taught this is because hitherto we haven't been able to prove that the Universe is a simulation. There were advanced races long before Earth evolved creating and evolving our Earth, technologically. We just didnt have the awareness that we had highly scientifically advanced creators. But if you look at the pace of evolution of human tech, then you can begin to see how simple systems evolve and make other systems that evolve. But the lower systems loose their connection or awareness about their creators. Thus the state of human affairs on this planet.
Novell Music Media-Novell Allen How do you know this? Did the aliens tell you this?
Ha. Why do you ask?
How else are you saying all this with such certainty?
42
Wow, I didn't expect John Conway to be on numberphile. That's mighty impressive!
Me either, and the game of life wasn't all that amazing on it's own, but it made a great point about complexity rising from simplicity. Some of the most basic math turned into things that appeared to be alive
brandon carter This reminds me of music based on pi and phi...
Alcesmire Well, they got BWK on Computerphile. Which is also pretty damn impressive.
@@THB192 They also got John Graham on numberphile which is cool
Just found out Conway had passed away and I was literally watching a PBS Spacetime video where they had a Game of Life animation when I read it.
WHAT really the last time I was here he was still alive, RiP.
I want someone to make a T-shirt that says: GET A LIFE with a picture of some squares arranged in the shape of a glider or something on the front That would be the very definition of *cool*
Maybe you're that person! Haha, I'd love a tee like that.
How about you make it. And give us the link to buy it!
C O O L O O L
C O O L O O L C O L C O L C O O C O O L
I made one , it's on Redbubble
Am I the only one who actually likes his voice for some reason?
TheSLK66 I love his voice!
+TheSLK66 I particularly like the way he looks to the left dreamily when he needs to think. This man is the British Morgan Freeman, I feel.
+TheSLK66 He sounds like Liam Neeson to me (probably a similar regional accent.)
No you're not, and a lot of kids say this these days. "Am I the only one...". No one said they dislike Conway's voice. You cant make stuff up like that.
LOVE his voice!
KZhead keeps bringing me back to this channel. I give up. You win. Subscribed. You guys are fantastic.
wow
i would like a simulation of cells of two types 1. Villagers 2. Witchs Rules: 1: Bring supplies 2. If someone is following you by themselves go towards groups of 4 or more 3: Move in groups of 3 or more 4: Vote for someone suspicious to be executed
I just heard about his passing. He was an amazing person, I hope he's remembered
For those of us programmers who cut out teeth, coding LIFE, we owe Conway a debt of gratitude. Thanks John!
I had never heard that John Conway hated the game of life. Personally in response to him thinking that it wasn't that interesting and that it was overshadowing more important things, I would just say the following: The game of life was the perfect thing you could have in your mathematical portfolio. It's something that a young adult can understand, and it might spark an interest in this young adult to learn more about math, programming, biology, or any number of other things. When someone creates something new and important, it's going to either be something everyone can use or it's going to be something that specialists use. Conway's game of life is absolutely for the first type of person, but it inspires people to become the second.
i used to play around with this for quite a bit. for example, there is "gilberts hotel" in game of life, where you have an infinite incoming stream of gliders, and a structure that can store all of them. people also did a programmable turing machine. or a machine that will calculate all prime numbers. one thing that really impressed me is that people managed to program conways game of life inside conways game of life. thats one elegant way to prove its mathematical structure. if you can put together a programmable turing machine in game of life, and it actually works, that pretty much proves that its turing-complete.
Of course there are still "simpler" automata than Life that are turing complete, such as rule 110
I wonder how rich John Conway would be if he had a quarter for everytime someone had him explain the game of life when people seek him out.
ShadowHunter120 Probably richer than Bill Gates, I assumed.
Not very. Banks rarely convert foreign coins into local legal tender
A few years ago (thirty years after the game was invented) someone created a self-replicating machine in Conway's game of life, a very complicated construction called Gemini that basically created a clone of itself while disassembling the original. It uses a very long sequence of gliders as a sort of DNA to carry instructions for the whole process! It was huge news in the community, and I'd love for numberphile to do a piece on it.
I have no idea why I find this so fascinating but I literally cannot stop watching animations of GoL in action.
Its so mezmerising
Does John Conway hate his Game of Life?
Yes?
Tuấn Đạt Nguyễn yes
PUT LINKS IN THE DESCRIPTION
Ryan Carelse LOL, the graphics literally could not be improved
zzz
He just wanted to eat some nuts. xD
I'm convinced conway devised his game of life by a combination of boredom and a desire to eat his almonds back in 1970.
Interferencyjny lol
So sad to hear of John Conway's passing. "Life" was one of the first games I programmed back in the 80's on my family's TRS-80, and I came across several other things he has done in the subsequent years, both through Martin Gardner and in my work in computer science. A great man, and will be dearly missed.
RIP Professor Conway. You and your work will be remembered most fondly - not just the Game of Life but stuff like the Collatz Conjecture.
Rest in peace to this amazing person 😢
"Might as well eat them" xD haha...dunno why that made me laugh @2:40
This guy has an amazing voice.
Well, this was certainly something awesome to come home to! Can't wait to see more stuff from him!
Loved this video so much. It's great that you got Mr Conway on your show.
I love that you interviewed Mr. Conway. Thanks.
Thanks for the video, Brady.
RIP John Conway
This is my favourite numberphile video and will always be. John Conway has left us due to Covid19 but forever all of us will be able to listen to his very own explanation of the game of life
Someone mentioned that "he is like a musical artist sick of playing his biggest hit at every concert". Extremely wrong, I consider him a skilled artist, sick of his one "pop song" overshadowing his great work. Heck he has like 10 books, and besides a small touch on symmetries, you (and probably 99% of people) only ask him about the game of life, that's why he hates it (and you didn't really asked about symmetries, he started talking about the monster himself)... And since I'm going all 'leave britney alone' here, a lot of people who do research on almost anything, will have a time when they will be depressed about the certainty of knowing that you will never have the chance to see a certain thing finished or explained, but he looks like he is in the process of going over that, although some never do. Don't get me wrong here, I love the 'phile channels, but people like John need to be asked about their other stuff as well.
+T Razvan That happens a lot and I can really understand being upset about that. It was the same with Christopher Eccleston and his role as the 9th Doctor in the series "Doctor Who". He started to hate that role because nobody cared about his other work. Kind regards, Meta Custom Computers
why do you say extremely wrong about him being a musical artist sick of playing his biggest hit - then go on to essentially agree with that same statement?! haha
R.I.P. John Horton Conway, born 26 December 1937, died of COVID-19 on 11 April 2020 (aged 82).
Ken Ham needs to play this game.
Wow , mr.Conway on numberphile. I am pretty impressed you managed to interview him ,he is like a legend of last century's mathematics !
This is the best concept I've ever been introduced to in the last few years and I'm obsessed already
Such a cool video, and thanks for putting the simulator link in the description. I was just about to ask for one when I got done watching.
Perfect timing with this video, I have a Game of Life lab coming up in Comp Sci this week.
A few more videos with John Conwy will be coming soon - stay tuned.
Numberphile Conway* :)
Numberphile *Conway
Numberphile Who’s Conwy?
Conway*
wish I could meet him irl, such an awesome guy
What else did this guy do? I would like to learn more about his work…
You have Google
Ever heard of 4D shapes?
Sphere packing, differential geometry and topology, group theory (finite simple groups and the monster group), elliptic modular functions, and much much more.
His discoveries in mathematics have contributed to the programming world that would allow the use of arrays. We all thank him.
The game of life was opening the door to my interest in computer science. I could not be a computer scientist, the game of life had not inspired me so much. For me, the game of life was one of the more interesting at that time. Thank you so much, mr. Conway.
MORE Conway!! Awesome stuff thus far
keep up the good work!
R.I.P. Mr. Conway. Your GoL was the thing, which forced me to study mathematics at the age of 8 more than 35 years ago :(
He should have stayed home! Seriously, it's exactly bc of these old fcukers that the whole society is in lockdown. Yet, they still can't help it and get infected. The world would be much better off if we wouldn't hide from the flu like coward little pussies and let nature cleanse the population of these octogenarians and other weaklings
@@yvesnyfelerph.d.8297 huh?
He just made up the game as an excuse to eat nuts.
Obviously.
No, Conway made it.
@@TheLetterJ10 What? He IS Conway
Studied the Game Of Life at Uni and did actually produce a programmed simulator to study. Loved it. Can we have some videos on Particle Swarm Optimisation? My dissertation was based on it and it'll be nice to see how it can be used from the eyes of professionals in the field (I no longer work in AI). Great vid as ever!
Very nice of you to have brought Conway to Numberphile (despite he hates talking about Life so much).
He could realize how many young people he's captivated with it. People who might have gone on to more useful math by being hooked by the game of life. As a young person, the game of life was very inspiring to me as dynamic and visible view into a an algorithm, that's simple in rules, but more complex in operation
RIP you brilliant man
Was just at an event for maths and Matt was there. He talked about the Game of life, and so on. It was really good, Matt hosted like a boss, Thanks Matt :)
So cool. I'm going to learn more about this!
I have to say i am proud that this man is my Uncle...
+Hilly Parkins wow that is so cool
Lies.
what 'lies'??
sean lee
+sean lee He has to be someone's uncle.... (Well, unless John Conway has no siblings)
We lossed a legend, may his work live on in the hearts of many!
Legend has it Conway's ghost is busy working on the Game of Death.
BEAUTIFUL MESSAGE❤❤❤
You guys are currently the best thing on KZhead
Conway's "Game of Life" and cellular automata (not to diminish Ulam and Neumann's contributions) has such profound impact on the theory on evolution it's contribution is sadly not noticed. It clearly shows how complex structures can be formed from apparently unrelated behaviors.
This is amazing
Such nice videos! A link to the game of life tool they used, would have been great too!
I’m gonna miss this mathematical madlad
That moment when you realize that math is beautiful and you have a tear on the edge of your eye thinkin' about all these things. I'm just amazed how computer science and math can go hand and hand and make these awesome things for biology and other subjects of human knowledge. Sorry for my english if im not correct in something but i just had to write how good i feel about stuffs like this. Thanks for an inspiration for my math studying!
I love the game of life, so very interesting when run on a computer, i thank this man for that game..
It took me 30 seconds to realize that's actually John H Conway, but that's awesome. Took me by surprise, really.
I would really liked to have looked at some of the other things Conway did: the ATLAS of Finite Groups, work on four dimensional polyhedra, the Look-and-say sequence. All fascinating topics which he might had discussed with some enthusiasm.
I recently saw a talk by Stephen Wolfram on "A New Kind of Science" (i had seen it before), and in it he references these kinds of things described in the Game of Life as cellular automatons. For people who want to dive a bit deeper into the more general stuff this game has lead to, there are a couple of one hour long talks by him that are worth watching, where he argues for iterative computation by simple rules as a new kind of science with very powerful applications.
we had this in class and i always thought of this to be really great! thanks for showing me the man who invented this :)
This video is very important for anyone interessed in gol. Clear and meaningful, with the perspectives of the man himself.
I remember 15 or 20 years ago receiving a computer disk with a variety of games on it. Most of them were clones of previous games or variants of one another. One game that stuck out to me was a game called Life. It wasn't really a game, but I couldn't stop trying out different configurations. To my then pre-teen mind this was all mind boggling. All these years later I still find myself occasionally going back to that game called Life and wasting away hours. I credit it as one of the main reasons I have pursued a life in mathematics. Thank you, John Conway. While Life isn't your greatest accomplishment, it has done wonders for numerous others in sparking their imaginations. Without it I likely wouldn't be where I am today just two months away from finally receiving my Ph.D. in mathematics.
I can safely say that in several years of watching Numberphile videos that showed up as recommended in my feed, this one is the most interesting.
What a fantastic bloke.
R.I.P John Conway (1937 - 2020)
nice to see him! love the game of life - thanks john!
John Conway is awesome. I took a course in Combinatorial Game Theory a few years ago, which he wrote the seminal book about, and I think it was the most interesting math class I ever had.
This is awesome
RIP Conway. Everyone remembers your brilliance
I always loved it!
This video was really cool Brady, but I hope you took time to ask about his other work as well! I'd like to see him talk about something else lol.
More John Conway videos would be pretty cool to see!
We keep on playing John. Rip
I like the Conway arrow notation :)
This man made me spend tons of school grid notebooks back in 90's
Thank you Dr. Conway.
Do you notice like me that all these truly wonderfull minds often do not have coins in their pockets, and wear simple shirts? I'm sad :(
Not all, some of them are the extremely rich powerful people that run this world, and a strong mind doesnt always = a nice person
Oh my, I was fortunate enough to meet him in person a few months ago. He was in US for a sometime, teaching in city universities (Queens, NY). He was a guest speaker in some computer science classes, and I had chance to talk to him for a while, asking some intriguing math questions that I had. You can tell right away that teaching is his passion. He has lots of excellent stories that are both fun and historical (mathematically, that is). (Unfortunately, I did notice that his thinking speed was not as "crisp" as it would have been in his younger years. I suppose is natural part of life; nevertheless, it does sadden many. He has been and still is a great man.)
I love Conway's Game of Life! It is what got me interested in programming, especially procedural generation. I recommend to anyone interested in programming to make a version for yourself. It is very rewarding and fun to play around with the rule set. All you need to make your own version is an understanding of how to use arrays/matrices. There can be issues with performance, so if your coding isn't efficient or you have a slow machine you might need to keep the board fairly small.
wow, brilliant
Love the casuality.
3:00 "The condition for giving birth is that you have exactly need 3 parents" *"Its really not that imitating"*
RIP Professor Conway.
Slightly inspirational.. Huge fan. Would love to meet you for the nuts alone.
Thanks !
Legend...
That explanation was nuts.
While I sympathise with Conway's relationship with his Game of Life I am grateful he did it. It was my first brush with cellular automata and one of my earliest programming projects and I learned a lot. In another inspirational example, I wonder how how Benoit Mandlebrot felt later in life about his famous set? It was another one of my programming projects - I think I might have written the world's most inefficient fractal generator back in the day.
One of the great maths rockstars. Thanks, Dr Conway. I hope your final months in the nursing home were as comfortable as you were engaging. :)
I love this guy RIP.
I first saw it while working for Bell Laboratories around 1980.
6:20 "You know, who would've thought...well I thought..." haha.