Conway's game of life - python: cells wont die

Question

I'm am beginning my journey into the world of python. I have done a couple of small projects, but the game of life really piqued my interest. Unfortunately, when I tried to replicate the game, everything worked except for the death of my cells. Per the rules, if a live cell has less than 2 neighbors, or more than 3, it should die. Cells are being born, but alas, they seem to be immortal. Can anyone spot my mistake? I'm including the entire code because I have no idea where I went wrong.

import random, time, copy

height = 10
width = 10
next = []

for x in range(width):
    column = []
    for y in range(height):
        if random.randint(0, 1) == 0:
            column.append(" ")
        else:
            column.append("#")
    next.append(column)
while True:
    print("\n\n\n\n")
    current = copy.deepcopy(next)

    for y in range(height):
        for x in range(width):
            print(current[x][y], end=" ")
        print()
    for x in range(width):
        for y in range(height):
            leftco = (x - 1) % width
            rightco = (x + 1) % width
            botco = (y - 1) % height
            topco = (y + 1) % height

            neighbors = 0
            if current[leftco][topco] == "#":
                neighbors = neighbors + 1
            if current[leftco][y] == "#":
                neighbors = neighbors + 1
            if current[leftco][botco] == "#":
                neighbors = neighbors + 1
            if current[x][topco] == "#":
                neighbors = neighbors + 1
            if current[x][botco] == "#":
                neighbors = neighbors + 1
            if current[rightco][topco] == "#":
                neighbors = neighbors + 1
            if current[rightco][y] == "#":
                neighbors = neighbors + 1
            if current[rightco][botco] == "#":
                neighbors = neighbors + 1
                
            if current[x][y] == "#" and (neighbors == 2 or neighbors == 3):
                next[x][y] = "#"
            elif current[x][y] == " " and neighbors == 3:
                next[x][y] == "#"
            else:
                next[x][y] == " "
        time.sleep(1)

Answer 1

In this section, you confused == and = when you try to assign to a value of next[x][y]

if current[x][y] == "#" and (neighbors == 2 or neighbors == 3):
    next[x][y] = "#"
elif current[x][y] == " " and neighbors == 3:
    next[x][y] == "#"
else:
    next[x][y] == " "

So it should be:

if current[x][y] == "#" and (neighbors == 2 or neighbors == 3):
    next[x][y] = "#"
elif current[x][y] == " " and neighbors == 3:
    next[x][y] = "#"
else:
    next[x][y] = " "

By the way, you see next is highlighted as a special name. That's because next() is a special function in Python standard library, and you shouldn't name your own variables like that. It's harmless in your current program, because you don't use it, but develop a habit to use more specific names, that don't shadow the standard ones