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Does John Conway hate his Game of Life?

Does John Conway hate his Game of Life? on HackerTube: recommended by 1 Hacker News commenter across 1 month, 2015–2024.

Numberphile

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John Conway talks in a short Numberphile interview about his mixed feelings toward the Game of Life, his most famous invention. He says he is not especially pleased that it overshadowed his other work.

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Cited whenever commenters want to note that Conway did not enjoy being known mainly for the Game of Life.

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“Conway has said GOL is not something he is particularly pleased got as famous as it did.”
— cauliflower99, Apr 2024, in “AMA: I'm Dave Greene, an accidental expert on Conway's Game of Life”

What HN commenters said

6 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.

tdicolaJul 2015Recommends

Numberphile, an awesome youtube channel on its own, has done some great interviews with John Conway that are definitely worth watching: [link] , ▶ this video , [link] He really comes across as a genuinely great guy.

in “John Conway – The world’s most charismatic mathematician” · View on HN

cauliflower99Apr 2024Cites it

Conway has said GOL is not something he is particularly pleased got as famous as it did. (Ref: [link] ) Why do you think that is? Edit: This is the video I meant: ▶ this video

in “AMA: I'm Dave Greene, an accidental expert on Conway's Game of Life” · View on HN

jodrellblankDec 2021Cites it

One that Conway didn't like much, saying (roughly) that it had all been explored and proved and other work of his was more interesting - ▶ this video in this Numberphile interview with him.

in “A Lisp Interpreter Implemented in Conway's Game of Life” · View on HN

AkronymusAug 2020Cites it

> I know Conway was slightly resentful that game of life overshadowed some of his other work in the public's imagination, but I've always been entranced by it. He seems to have come to terms with it.[1] [1] ▶ this video

in “The Recursive Universe” · View on HN

brownbatApr 2020Cites it

VSauce tweeted a playlist of Conway's appearances on Numberphile, including that one: ▶ this video I found the one you posted especially moving, but the others were good too.

in “Remembering Conway” · View on HN

splawnJun 2017Cites it

I think it is funny, Conway doesn't really enjoy being solely associated with GOL and the fame it brings[0].. In stark contrast with Wolfram's ego. Perhaps this arrangement actually works out best for both of them. [0] ▶ this video

in “Oh My Gosh, It’s Covered in Rule 30s” · View on HN

Topics & tags

Recreational & visual mathComputability & complexity theoryconwaygame of lifenumberphilecellular automatamathematics