Devised by British mathematician J. H. Conway, the Game of Life is a theory that some universe is governed by very simple rules, with a grid with cells each of which could be live or dead, with four rules that manage the state of the cells:
- Under-population: If the live cell has fewer than two living neighbors, it becomes dead.
- Stability: Any live cell with two or three living neighbors remains alive.
- Overcrowding: A live cell with more than three neighbors dies.
- Reproduction: Any dead cell with exactly three neighbors is brought back to life.
During his lecture at the Santa Fe Institute, Dr. Ian Malcolm recalls about a series of evolutionary scenarios while conversing with Dr. Richard Levine, one of which is the Game of Life.
