Brian's Brain

Brian's Brain is a three-state cellular automaton that mimics how neurons fire and recover. Unlike Game of Life, its "refractory" state creates directional patterns and abundant spaceships.

The Three States

• Off: Inactive cell
• On (Firing): Active cell
• Dying (Refractory): Recovering cell

The Rules

• Off → On if exactly 2 On neighbors
• On → Dying (always)
• Dying → Off (always)
• Dying cells don't count as neighbors for births

Emergent Patterns

• Spaceships: Nearly all patterns move (unlike Life)
• Chaotic waves: Explosive diagonal cascades
• Logic gates: Can perform computation

What to Observe

• Patterns naturally drift due to the dying state
• Small seeds trigger chain reactions of spaceships
• Balance between structured patterns and chaos