Thanks, I really like your idea of a XS wrapper around LifeLib.

Better yet, how about a Life module with different pluggable backends? Math::CellularAutomaton, say, using Math::CellularAutomaton::LifeLib, Math::CellularAutomaton::Organism or Math::CellularAutomaton::Organism_PP under the hood, depending on what's installed, what's supported by the current CPU architecture, and what is able to handle the CA the user wants to run.