Thanks for the replies. I have heard of Hash Life, but I thought I'd try a more naive approach first, build up some type-classes, then create some more interesting implementations (although I think I'd struggle with implementing Hash Life in haskell at this point).
What is the meaning of fuzzy Game of Life? Where can I read about?
I don't think there are any official rules for fuzzy Life, and it would really be a different automaton, but you can still get some of the same Life phenomenon occurring in it. It gets mentioned reasonably often and shows up if you google for it. (For example: http://cogprints.org/1479/0/life.html) I'd like to create something of a cellular-automaton engine with a fair degree of flexibility (2d/3d, boolean/fuzzy/other, different neighborhoods). It could make a fairly nice screen-saver if it were polished, but I can't really see any applications beyond that.