Conway's Game of Life, a cellular automaton conceived by mathematician John Conway in 1970, unfolds on an infinite, two-dimensional grid. Each cell exists in one of two states: alive or dead. The game progresses through generations, with each cell's fate determined by its eight neighboring cells (horizontally, vertically, and diagonally adjacent).
The initial arrangement constitutes the first generation. Subsequent generations arise from the simultaneous application of the following rules to every cell:
- Survival: A living cell remains alive if it has two or three live neighbors.
- Birth: A dead cell becomes alive if it has exactly three live neighbors.
These rules, selected from numerous variations Conway explored, represent a critical threshold. Other rule sets often lead to rapid population extinction or unrestrained expansion. The chosen rules, however, maintain a delicate balance between these extremes, resulting in the complex and fascinating patterns observed within the game.
