How Do You Experiment With John Conways Life Simulation “Game”?
The “Game” of Life by John Conway is what is known as a cellular automaton, meaning that cells on a grid will “live” or “die” from one generation to the next according to certain rules. It was developed by the British mathematician in 1970, and has nothing at all to do with the Hasbro board game by the same name. In fact, Conway’s creation is actually not a game at all, but is more of a simulation to be experimented with. The patterns that develop have been the subject of tremendous research and analysis, which is even more amazing in light of the fact that the simulation resolves around only four very simple rules. This article describes how the simulation works, and shows you the steps for experimenting with it using two of the many free resources that are available on the Internet. It also links to several resources that offer a tremendous amount of additional information for the interested reader. In the Game of Life, we will be working with square cells on a grid. A colored cell i
