life-2
Explanation
The Joke
The comic depicts a grid resembling Conway's Game of Life -- a cellular automaton where cells (represented here as yellow/lit squares) live or die based on simple rules about their neighbors. Two cells are speaking to each other. One says, "Hey, one of the lights went out." The other responds, "It wasn't supposed to do that yet!"
Below the Game of Life grid, the comic reads: "In Memoriam -- John Horton Conway -- December 26, 1937 - April 11, 2020." This is a tribute to the mathematician John Conway, who died on April 11, 2020, from complications related to COVID-19. The "light" that went out is Conway himself, and the cells' remark that "it wasn't supposed to do that yet" expresses the sense that his death was premature and unexpected.
The Humor
While this comic is more of an emotional tribute than a traditional joke, it uses Conway's own most famous creation -- the Game of Life -- as the medium for mourning him. The poignancy comes from the cellular automaton's cells themselves noticing and grieving the loss of their creator. The line "it wasn't supposed to do that yet" carries a double meaning: in the Game of Life, cells die according to deterministic rules, so an unexpected death would be a glitch in the system; in real life, Conway's death at 82 from COVID-19 felt like a premature loss to the mathematical community. It is a touching and clever use of the comic format to honor a beloved figure.
References
John Horton Conway (1937-2020) was a British mathematician known for numerous contributions to mathematics, including the Game of Life (1970), surreal numbers, the Conway groups, and many other discoveries. The Game of Life is a zero-player cellular automaton where an initial configuration of cells evolves according to simple rules: cells with 2-3 neighbors survive, dead cells with exactly 3 neighbors come alive, and all others die. Conway passed away on April 11, 2020, due to COVID-19 complications, and this comic was published the following day as a memorial.