Transport

Ordinary proposal

B3/S23

Birth rule

Survival rule

Birth: 3. Survival: 2, 3. This frozen first pass supplies every neighbor forecast.

Contraction protection

Maximum tolerated loss

Radius-two cells allowed to disappear5

A loss of 5 remains permissible. A scheduled ordinary death stays alive when its 24-cell forecast loses 6 or more, unless the crowding death charge applies.

Crowding death charge

Absolute final rule

Projected radius-two population allowed12

A projected population of 12 remains permissible. Above it, the focal cell must be dead—overriding ordinary birth, ordinary survival, and contraction protection. Equality is allowed.

Two-scale forecast

Fixed invariant

The secondary count covers every position in the focal cell's complete 5 × 5 Moore radius, excluding the focal cell itself: eight cells in the first ring plus sixteen in the outer ring. Each provisional future still uses ordinary Life only. Forecasts never recurse into protections or death charges, and every final state commits synchronously.

014GOL

Second Thought: Radius Two

The forecast widens to every cell in the surrounding 5 × 5 area: sharp contraction can protect a scheduled death, but projected crowding above an absolute 24-cell threshold forces death.

Explore the collection Rules & reproducibility

Current composition

01Every position first proposes ordinary B3/S23 from the frozen current field.
02All 24 positions in the surrounding 5 × 5 area are counted in both the current and provisional fields.
03If the projected population is 12 or lower, a projected loss greater than 5 protects a cell from its scheduled ordinary death.
04If the projected population is above 12, the focal cell must die or remain dead. This crowding charge has final precedence.
05The secondary rules grant no birth. Proposals, forecasts, protection, death charges, and final occupancy commit synchronously without recursion or evolution randomness.

Update: Frozen Life proposal → 24-cell forecast → protection or forced death
Field: 160 × 160 · toroidal

Selected cell

Position: (80, 80) · Dead
Ordinary neighbors: 2 / 8
Ordinary proposal: Dead
Current radius-two: 5 / 24
Projected radius-two: 5 / 24
Forecast delta: 0
Crowding charge: Inactive · projected population is at most 12
Protection: Inactive · ordinary proposal proceeds
Next result: No transition · dead

Experiment index014 / 100

Game of Life: Second Thought: Radius Two

Paused · Forecasting all 24 nearby cells

160 × 160 · generation 0

Color view shows established life lime, births cream, ordinary deaths coral, protected deaths cyan, and crowding deaths amber. Inspect cell outlines all 24 forecast positions: projected-alive positions in cyan and projected-dead positions in gray, with dashed outlines marking the sixteen-cell outer ring. Arrow keys move the cursor; Enter paints when inspection is off; P plays or pauses; S advances one generation.

Established lifeBirthOrdinary deathDeath protectedCrowding death

Watch contraction protection preserve fragile neighborhoods until projected crowding crosses the absolute death threshold.