A Lisp interpreter implemented in Conway's Game of Life (2021) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34266240 - Jan 2023 (25 comments)

A Lisp Interpreter Implemented in Conway's Game of Life - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29661616 - Dec 2021 (85 comments)

I - Formalisms for Computation: Register Machines, Exponential Diophantine Equations, & Pure LISP

Gregory. J. Chaitin

> And in Chapter 4 we present a register machine interpreter for this LISP, and then compile it into a diophantine equation.

Mentioning the last one (same model, different encoding basically) because that guy (@woodrush*) also made a Lisp to λ-calculus expressions compiler which then used to make a Lisp interpreter expressed in λ-calculus (which can evaluate aforementioned compiler and also has an a λ-calculus interpreter implementation available**) and a VM for a Lisp/ELVM-like assembly. The λ ELVM backend was made possible integrating this VM in ELVM. And, of course using his own contributed backend, had an 8cc-based C compiler expressed in λ-calculus.

*If want a drink game to get drunk asap, "take a shot for every λ" in @woodrush Lambda projects is a strong option.

**For extra inception points, can use it to run 2012 Tromp's λ self-interpreter.

https://github.com/howerj/subleq

Same, but with instruction multiplexing.

https://github.com/howerj/muxleq

I’m glad the real hacker ethos of making stuff arbitrarily convoluted by mixing and matching various computational-equivalent substrates results is some truly bizarre results. An instant classic of the genre.