Tim Hutton @timhutton@mathstodon.xyz

This entire fractal is fully defined by these two transforms being animated.
https://timhutton.github.io/mobius-transforms/dfs_recipes.html?id=special&ta.x=1.870000&ta.y=0.080000&tb.x=1.870000&tb.y=-0.100000&tab.x=1.790000&tab.y=-1.948000

The swirliness of the transforms themselves (they are 'loxodromic') seem to make the fractal visually appealing. One day I will try using fluid dynamics motions to explore this idea.

One possibility for reducing the computational cost of simulating the long enzymes is to allow 'compaction'. We change the physics of the world to permit multiple atoms to occupy the same square, under some conditions. For movement we can then treat the atoms in a square as a single entity.

Left shows a cell with the original physics. Right shows the same cell with compaction allowed.

So if we already have compact reproducing cells, why do we need those long bulky enzymes with hundreds of atoms?

For evolvability. In the cells case the reactions rules needed for reproduction are given by the simulation. The cells can evolve to some degree (see the paper) but not much further. They likely won't ever discover different ways of reproducing.

What we really want is a cell that carries the reaction rules around with it. This is exactly what DNA does in our own cells.

A different way of letting the atoms in our artificial chemistry move around: "MPEG physics"

Instead of moving individual atoms, we pick a square area and move the whole thing, if it is allowed (no collisions etc.).

Can make molecules more flexible and reduce the tendency for tangled blobs to get stuck on the grid.

This is more unpublished work. May find a use in a future paper.

Looks like mathstodon.xyz has some custom emojis of famous mathematicians and a few other things.

https://mathstodon.xyz/api/v1/custom_emojis

:menger_slice : (without the space)
:newton :
:hopper :
:turing :

Previous papers showed that it is possible to wrap this whole assembly into a cell that can copy itself and compete for resources with others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrTM6wYl4Us

The challenge now is to find a way to simulate this kind of system fast enough that we can watch it evolve.

Unpublished work, an artificial chemistry. The short molecules at the top are being replicated by proximity to the 21 enzymes below. Each enzyme catalyses one of the reactions needed.
https://github.com/timhutton/linear-enzymes

(As a programmer, self-appraisal can feel equally absurd at times, even though I am Not A Cat.)

What are your Core Priorities, kitty? What have been your major recent contributions and what has been their Impact? What are your Key Deliverables for the forthcoming period? #SelfAppraisalForCats

Which is your favorite Mongolian metal song? This is mine at the moment: https://youtu.be/pD1gDSao1eA

The Tuvan throat singing really belongs.

Astounded to learn that the original version of Popcorn is from 1969 and that it has so much complexity than the many later versions. By Gershon Kingsley, from the album Music to Moog By.
https://youtu.be/bjT7ECeCKO0

No dots? Am turning to new social network. (8)

His other motivation (as reported in that article) was to avoid companies changing the policies or becoming evil. We've seen this now with: LiveJournal (sold to a Russia company), Twitter (sold to Musk), Facebook (becoming even more unbearably evil), so these are valid concerns!

With those motivations, it does seem that Mastodon still has a missing piece: the ability to move toots when you migrate to a new instance. Without that we're still vulnerable to the whims of instance maintainers.

Interesting to read some of the original motivation for Eugen Rochko (@Gargron) to create Mastodon. Part of it was the desire to avoid services going defunct. His experiences of this were with MySpace, Friendfeed, and SchülerVZ. (Mine have been Buzz and Google+.)

https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-twitter-masatodon/