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A new intuition about a more life-like cellular automata / reaction-diffusion design:

I feel that designing systems that imitate at least three invariants of the universe closely
might yield new and interesting patterns:

A. The universe is continuously expanding. 

B. The sum energy of the universe always remains the same.

C. Entropy in the universe is ever-increasing. (Second law of thermodynamics)

I don't really know yet how to model any of these three properties in a cellular 
automaton, but here are some ideas for each aspect:

A. We don't have to simulate an ever-expanding field - we could continuously
   zoom in on a particular area where energy at the edges goes out of focus.

B. We could start out with a dirac point that contains all the energy and then
   disperse that energy. Gravitational attractor-like rules could help coalescing
   local formations so it doesn't all just fizz out.

C. I'm the least clear about this point. The system starts out highly structured 
   or fully solid and then dissolves in gaseous patterns? Some kind of thermonuclear
   exchange happens here, and it seems like rule A in combination with an attractor
   rule ensures that reactions aren't too close in proximity. How do things even
   cool down and become solid again? I understand very little about this.