In the 1970s a two-state, two-dimensional cellular automaton named Game of Life became widely known, particularly among the early computing community. Invented by John Conway and popularized by Martin Gardner in a Scientific American article,[27] its rules are as follows:
Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbours dies, as if caused by underpopulation. Any live cell with two or three live neighbours lives on to the next generation. Any live cell with more than three live neighbours dies, as if by overpopulation. Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes a live cell, as if by reproduction.