How Long Can One Stare at 250000 Square Cells Changing Color?

This work is based on Game of Life, a mathematical model devised by mathematician John Conway in 1970. It is one of a wider class of mathematical models known as cellular automata. A cellular automaton is typically a regular array of cells, each of which is either “off” or “on.” Following a small set of simple rules, a cell “chooses” its state depending on the state of neighboring cells. For example, this work uses the following rules: a cell switches “on” if it has exactly three “on” neighbors, and switches “off” if it has less than two or more than three “on” neighbors. Adding time to the system and initiating the process of choosing a state in an endless cycle produces an extremely complex and unpredictable system that resembles an evolving biological organism or colony expanding its habitat. Numerous complex clusters arise that can multiply, move, absorb and mutate. Observing and studying this dynamic model is an exciting activity, but it takes on additional meaning if we interpolated it onto turbulent social processes. There is a striking similarity between this model and the strategy that emerged in the Belarusian protests. Self-organization, horizontal connections, decentralization of protests and mutual support networks rhyme with the emergence of complex structures in Game of Life. The development of the system balances on the boundary between determinism, given the clear set of elementary rules, and the complete unpredictability of extremely complex chain reactions and interactions between emerging points of tension.