Rule 34 Tungsten in XKCD

A joke in # 505 xkcd says: "I call rule 34 according to Wolfram 34 rule."

I know what rule 34 is in terms of the Internet , and I googled up who Wolfram is , but it's hard for me to understand what Wolfram is Rule 34.

So what is Rule 34?

Here's the comic: http://xkcd.com/505/ .

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theory cellular-automata
Nov 19 '08 at 15:54
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12 answers

Tungsten organized 256 possible one-dimensional cellular automata based on the nearest neighbors in this way:

RULES: 0: 0 0 0 1: 0 0 1 2: 0 1 0 3: 0 1 1 4: 1 0 0 5: 1 0 1 6: 1 1 0 7: 1 1 1 

If you evaluate the step in a cellular automaton (CA) that follows rule 2, then whenever a three-bit string matches the configuration of rule 2, the center bit becomes (or remains in this case) true at the next iteration.

CA rules are described as a bit string. Say this rule 110 (my favorite). In binary expression 110 is 01101110. The digit of the smallest value is zero. This means that if a cell and its neighbors comply with rule 0 above, it becomes white / negative / 0 / false / whatever. The second least significant digit is equal to one, therefore, if a cell and its neighbors comply with rule 1 above, it becomes black / positive / 1 / true / any`, etc. Etc., until you see that for rule 110, if the cell and its neighbors comply with rules 1,2,3,5,6, then the cell turns black. Otherwise, it turns white. Some time ago, I wrote JS code to allow me to play with this unique CA:

http://lucasoman.com/files/projects/caeditor/caed.php

As you can see, playing with it, you can randomly switch any block that changes each block under it in accordance with the rules. This is a kind of neat way to see the chain reaction caused by aberrations in the process.

Hope this helps.

+78
Nov 19 '08 at 16:08
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What a perfect self-awareness. XKCD is popular enough that people will look for something obscure that they refer to. At the top there is a note that spammers use W's-34 in the headers to redirect searches. As spammers sometimes work on porn sites, the author created w-34 related to porn by simply calling 34 on it. Holy recursive batman.

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Jan 12 '09 at 22:16
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"I call rule 34 by the rule of Tungsten 34"

The first “rule 34” refers to the Internet rule 34 mentioned in http://xkcd.com/305/ , the second “rule 34” is Wolfram's theory of cellular automata .

+20
Dec 09 '08 at 15:34
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In frames 9-13 and 19-20 in the xkcd comic you can see some patterns created by the rules. We want to know what is funny in that “I call rule 34 according to the rule of Tungsten 34”?

I'm not quite sure what the meaning of rule 34 is (with the exception of internet porn joked on XKCD 305 [credit Jason Slocomb comment]), but the essence of the comic is that some poor dude is modeling our entire universe using a Turing machine . The idea of ​​a Turing machine is that a data table can be used to perform calculations on other data (i.e., the program is the first table, and the input and output are the other table).

The first table (program) gives rules that tell the machine what to do with the data. Tungsten claimed that he reduced everything to a minimum number of rules that made it possible to perform all possible calculations (universal computer).

He said that he needs 2 states and 3 colors or something like that (I can have the order back). I think states refer to (0/1), and colors refer to the type of operations you perform. If you studied assembly, it would make more sense.

The most basic calculation is when 2 bits of data are compared to get the third. They are called logical operations. Possible 8:

 0;0 -> 0 0;0 -> 1 0;1 -> 0 0;1 -> 1 1;0 -> 0 1;0 -> 1 1;1 -> 0 1;1 -> 1 

You can do all this with a single “color” comparison (for example, an XOR scheme) and even combine this operation with a write operation. Then, by storing 2 control bits somewhere (o and 1 at the beginning of your memory), you can write a simple 0 or 1 by comparing these bits with yourself or with each other. If you link a bunch of XOR schemes together in different templates, you can achieve all 8 results. Wiki XOR for more details.

But for most programs, another very important function is required: you need to jump to different parts of the program, and then bounce back. therefore, jumping is a completely different color.

And, of course, you have to read a bit from memory.

So, in everything Wolfram said that he can make any program (this means that all conceivable programs are exhaustive) of 3 "colors".

Stephen Wolfram conducted extensive empirical studies of these Turing models; looking at them, reflecting on them, cataloging them and comparing them, studying hundreds of photographs and graphs of their consequences, etc.

Thus, the frightening joke, I suppose, is either that when the poor guy moving with stones gets into part of his modeling of the universe related to Wolfram’s research work, and all the activities involved in the brain, etc., samples the rocks get really recursive, or is there something to do with rock modeling internet porn involving tungsten cellular automaton rules ?? !!?

Recursively structured rock internet simulations? Internet pornography with rock simulations?

Something like this, I suppose.

+11
Nov 22 '08 at 6:53
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If you want to look at the source:

the book contains thousands of good little diagrams.

+8
Nov 19 '08 at 17:04
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It took me a moment to get this, but the joke is a pun on two different rules 34. The first XKCD Rule 34 ("If you can imagine it, have porn of it") introduced into this comic book . The second is the Wolfram Rule 34 rule, described in detail above. Thus, the animator says that somewhere there should be cellular automata with the theme of porn. This has nothing to do with this particular comedian, other than using a teller machine.

+8
Nov 26 '08 at 0:47
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Rule 34 refers to the set of rules developed by Stephen Wolfram for cellular automata. You may be familiar with the Conway Game of Life , which can be used to model computations. Tungsten has a similar calculation method using cellular automata defined by a series of rules; Rule 34 is just one of the rules for determining how a calculation occurs. The "game" itself is defined in Wolfram 's Atlas of Simple Programs.

If you need more information, including useful links, you should check out this blog post as well as this one . Unfortunately, since the XKCD cartoon came out, many people searched this rule on Google, which resulted in a lot of spammers trying to use a search query, so finding direct information about Wolfram Rule 34 is difficult.

+6
Nov 19 '08 at 16:08
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Rule 34 is one of 256 elementary cellular automata (in 1-dimensional).

+1
Nov 19 '08 at 16:03
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+1
Nov 19 '08 at 16:11
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Wolfram Alpha has a good description here .

+1
May 16 '09 at 23:39
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0
Nov 19 '08 at 16:01
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However, the rule indicated by the picture of the rocks in the comic is rule 126.
0
May 21 '09 at 1:22 pm
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