Multi-species Lenia via localized parameter embedding

Develop multi-species simulations within Lenia by embedding localized update rule parameters (serving as a genome) into the cellular automaton so that distinct spatially localized patterns governed by different update rules can co-exist and interact in the same world, thereby enabling intrinsic evolutionary dynamics across populations of patterns with their own update rules and parameters.

Background

Lenia is a continuous cellular automaton that produces diverse life-like patterns (“creatures”), but different creatures are governed by different update rules and therefore cannot co-exist or interact within the same simulation. Enabling multi-species simulations would require embedding information locally to modify the update rule parameters (analogous to a genome), allowing different species to inhabit and interact within the same environment.

Such a capability is a prerequisite for intrinsic evolutionary processes in cellular automata like Lenia, where populations of patterns with distinct update rules could undergo competition and adaptation without externally defined fitness. Prior to this work, achieving this local parameter embedding and multi-species coexistence in Lenia remained an open challenge.