Assume an array of cells with an initial distribution of live and dead cells,
and imaginary cells off the end of the array having fixed values.

Cells in the next generation of the array are calculated based on the value of the cell and its left and right nearest neighbours in the current generation.

If, in the following table, a live cell is represented by 1 and a dead cell by 0 then to generate the value of the cell at a particular index in the array of cellular values you use the following table:

000 -> 0  # 
001 -> 0  #
010 -> 0  # Dies without enough neighbours
011 -> 1  # Needs one neighbour to survive
100 -> 0  #
101 -> 1  # Two neighbours giving birth
110 -> 1  # Needs one neighbour to survive
111 -> 0  # Starved to death.

% we need a way to write a values and pass the same back
wi is rest link [write, pass]
% calculate the neighbors by rotating the array left and right and joining them
neighbors is pack [pass, sum [-1 rotate,  1 rotate]]
% calculate the individual birth and death of a single array element
igen is fork [ = [ + [first, second], 3 first], 0 first, = [ + [first, second], 2 first], 1 first, 0 first ]
% apply that to the array
nextgen is each igen neighbors
% 42
life is fork [ > [sum pass, 0 first], life nextgen wi, pass ]