A New Game of Three-Dimensional Life
Carter Bays · Complex Systems · 1991
The three-dimensional cellular automaton kn own as was first re ported in r eferences [IJ and [2]; at t hat t ime , two rules were describ ed . These rules (also called games of Life ) are known as 4555 and 5766 , where t he first two numbers give the safe enviro nme nt ran ge (t he number of live neighbor cells, represented as unit cubes, th at must touch a cur rentl y live cell so that it will r em ain alive next genera t ion ) and the second t wo numbers specify the fer t ility ran ge (t he number of live touching neighb ors requi red t o bring a currently dead cell to life next generation). It is possible to give a somewhat form al defini tion t o rul es t hat qu alify as games of Life ; t his was done in [I J and t he definition is rep eat ed here.