That is, a live cell stays alive if two or three of its neighbors are
alive, |
(fewer than two and the cell dies of lonliness, |
more than three and the cell dies of overcrowding) |
and a dead cell becomes alive if it has exactly three live neighbors |
(mother, father, and ... midwife). |
Conway invented Life in 1970; Martin Gardner introduced it to the general world
in his Mathematical Games column of the October, 1970, and February, 1971, issues
of Scientific American. |
Poundstone's
book is a good source of information about Life. |