In my last post, I introduced an algorithm for turning order into chaos and back again using a turmite (otherwise known as a 2D Turing Machine). This time, I have to admit that I kept some of the truth from you. I didn’t just come up with one algorithm, I came up with two. And the second one is significantly more weird and beautiful than the first.

Where my first algorithm used a single machine head, my second one uses two. And instead of simply picking up and putting down bits, this new algorithm swaps them from one head to the other. Machine-head A passes its data to head B, and B passes its data to A. What this means is that the new algorithm is a lot faster at turning order into chaos while being no less reversible.

On top of this, the new algorithm produces some eerie physics-like results from time to time, the reasons for which still aren’t entirely clear to me. The new algorithm working on a block of bits also looks peculiarly like something rotting or rusting—something I’ve not seen before in a simple algorithm.

Once again, I’m struck by the peculiar corrosive beauty of these programs but am still not sure what they’re good for. You can find the simulations here.