We could even think of both as collections of 3d structures showing all valid structures possible for a board of size n by n. There are some differences, every single 3d Conway structure has a unique top layer, while Go does not. But that seems like an overall minor difference. There are many more Go shapes than Conway shapes given the same N, but both are already so numerous that I'm not sure that is a difference worth stopping the comparison.
It’s interesting that you wouldn’t, yet I would.They aren’t isomorphic, for sure.
Go’s complexity comes from two players alternately picking one out of a very large number of options.
GoL’s complexity comes from a very large number of nodes “picking” between two states. That’s not precise, just illustrating that there is some symmetry of simplicity/complexity, at least to my eyes.
