What a lovely period of time that was—when "Computer Recreations" ran monthly in Scientific American. I read the column every month and was fascinated to learn about Eliza, Core Wars, Conway's Life, Wa-Tor, etc. It was a time when you coded simply for the fun of it—to explore, learn.

I know you can still do that today, but… something has changed. I don't know what it is. (Maybe I changed.)

Anyway, I was unable to track down PDF versions of the original articles, but, for the curious and newcomers to Core Wars, they're transcribed here:

https://corewar.co.uk/dewdney/

Computers are no longer something fresh and new. They are firmly in the realm of stuff that exists and has Rules. The frontier is dead.