Generative systems are systems that use a few basic rules to yield patterns. Depending on the rules, the patterns can be extremely varied and unpredictable. One of the more well-known examples is Conway's Game of Life, a cellular automaton. Another example is Boids. More examples can be found in generative music, generative art, and, more recently, in video games such as Spore.
Famous quotes containing the words generative and/or systems:
“The generative energy, which, when we are loose, dissipates and makes us unclean, when we are continent invigorates and inspires us. Chastity is the flowering of man; and what are called Genius, Heroism, Holiness, and the like, are but various fruits which succeed it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)