This is a really neat and underrated datapack!
As someone who's written a few Cellular Automata in Python, I'm shocked how well this works in minecraft! lol
Do you mind if I use your datapack, update the code a bit, add some new features? (I'll credit you, if I end up sharing it.) This has a lot of potential, and might run even better if it were updated with things like markers.

Edit: Well I couldn't resist, so I hope this is okay.. After spending a few days reworking things, and losing sleep because my brain wouldn't stop thinking about how to make certain features work, I've posted an updated version: www.planetminecraft.com/data-pack/gameoflife/