Every cell is both an encoder and a decoder: it signals its needs to its neighbours and reads theirs, all with tables that start random. The colony starts at the centre of a round dish and grows outward, faster where cells understand each other. The question is whether some cells end up exactly the same, where in the colony they sit, and whether they got there by inheritance or independently.
Dish
Radius 20 sites, every cell speaks and listens
Dashed rings mark 5, 10, 15 and 20 sites from the centre.
Tick
0
Cells
0
Radius
0
Have a twin
0
Largest group
0
Species
0
Sameness
How many cells have an identical twin
Cells with a twin (%)Largest group (% of cells)Disturbance
Rings
By distance from the centre, now
Cells with a twinNeeds a cell decodes correctly from its own signal
Species and identical groups
Who understands whom, and who is an exact copy
Species · cells that understand each other
Largest identical groups · exact copies, colour kept for the group's life
Encoder · need → codeword → its own decoder reads
Decoder · all 64 codewords → need
Outlined codewords are the ones this cell sends. Grey codewords decode to no current need.