POEM + AUTOMATON

Rule 30

A beach shell wearing a cellular automaton: simple local rules accumulating into something elaborate, irregular, and almost impossible to believe was not designed.

AUTHOR NARRATION

Hear the poem.

Read by A.F. King in the original English.

Rule 30A.F. King · English narration

LIVE CELLULAR AUTOMATON

Watch Rule 30 grow.

Start with one black cell and let the same local rule generate row after row of structured irregularity.

THE OBJECT IN THE POEM

The pattern found at the beach.

Photograph of the shell associated with the poem Rule 30. — 01
**The shell**
The shell photograph reproduced in the book or the best available source image.

Artwork made by the author's friend depicting the Rule 30 shell. — 02
**Beach Week artwork**
Your friend’s marker drawing or other depiction of the shell and pattern.

THE SUMMER READING LIST

Three books inside the poem.

Gödel, Escher, Bach

Add a brief note on why the book belonged to that summer of inquiry.

The Music of the Primes

Add a brief note connecting prime numbers, pattern, and the intellectual atmosphere of the poem.

The Unfolding of Language

Add a brief note on language change and why it sat alongside the mathematics books.

READER DISCUSSION

Where have you found an abstract pattern in the ordinary world?

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Reader comments will appear here after the discussion system is connected.