Numerical experiment
Reaction–diffusion
The Gray–Scott model describes two reacting substances on a grid. Change the feed or removal rate and watch the computed field respond. Clicking on the field introduces a local disturbance.
Gray–Scott system / two concentrations
Reaction field
Initial field seeded.
U diffuses faster than V. The nonlinear reaction consumes U as V is produced.
The colors represent simulated concentrations of U and V. Some settings produce spots that split or disappear. The model has no inheritance mechanism and does not simulate organisms.
Interpretation
Patterns and living systems
The simulation can sustain a pattern for many time steps without reproducing that pattern through inheritance. Claims about life would require more than persistence.
One study might examine the formation of these patterns under different parameters. An imaginary naturalist could be written from within the simulated world, working only from the phenomena available there.