“Cellular automata have been invented many times under different names… In pure mathematics they can be recognized as a branch of topological dynamics, in electrical engineering they are sometimes called iterative arrays, and high school kids may know them as a sort of home-computer game. They have been used and abused by interdisciplinary scientists as well as interdisciplinary bumblers.”
Toffoli and Margous, Cellular Automata Machines (1987)