The evolution of self-replicating computer organisms

Abstract A computer model is described that explores some of the possible behavior of biological life during the early stages of evolution. The simulation starts with a primordial soup composed of randomly generated sequences of computer operations selected from a basis set of 16 opcodes. With a probability of about 10−4, these sequences spontaneously generate large and inefficient self-replicating “organisms”. Driven by mutations, these protobiotic ancestors more efficiently generate offspring by initially eliminating unnecessary code. Later they increase their complexity by adding additional subroutines as they compete for the system's two limited resources, computer memory and CPU time. The ensuing biology includes replicating hosts, parasites and colonies.

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