Emergence of Digital Lifeforms
About the author: Tomas Corza is a marketing strategist, Jobs-to-be-Done practitioner and musician.
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Researchers from Google and the University of Chicago released a document (Linked below) in June 2024, describing how life-like behaviors emerge from a distinct set of pre-life dynamics within computer systems. This research seeks to answer a fundamental question: How does life begin? It focuses on understanding how self-replicating digital entities, similar to life forms, arise from random interactions in various computational environments. The research’s job-to-be-done is to uncover the conditions that allow these digital life forms to emerge, which may reshape our understanding of artificial life and maybe the origins of life itself.
Who is Performing the Job?
A team from Google’s Paradigms of Intelligence Team, in collaboration with the University of Chicago, is leading this research. With experts Blaise Agüera y Arcas and James Evans as key contributors, who bring their knowledge of artificial intelligence and computational theory to the project.
The Desired Outcome
The research explores how “digital organisms” or self-replicating programs can emerge from simple interactions in computer systems. These environments, guided by mathematical rules, act as a digital "primordial soup" where life-like processes can begin. The study mostly uses basic programming languages like Brainfuck to simulate environments where self-replicating patterns can form. As well as other more complex systems, to better understand the conditions needed for digital life to emerge. By studying digital self-replicators, the researchers hope to gain insights into the origins of life and advance the development of more complex artificial intelligence. This research opens new possibilities for exploring life beyond biological limits
The video below shows what these self replicating programs look like.
The video below shows what the "primordial soup" looks like.
The research shows that self-replicating programs, similar to digital life can emerge naturally from simple interactions in computational systems. The researchers discovered that even when random, non-replicating programs are introduced into an environment without a clear purpose or fitness goal, self-replication can still occur, mainly through self-modification. This can happen with or without random mutations in the background.
The study tested different computational platforms, from basic programming languages to real CPU simulations, and found that self-replicating programs could appear in all environments except one. In the SUBLEQ language, self-replicators didn’t form, likely because of specific limitations, like the program's length needed for self-replication.
This research suggests new ways to think about how life, or behaviors like life can emerge from non-life, highlighting the potential for complexity and evolution in purely digital spaces. It also raises questions about the possibilities and boundaries of life, no matter the form it takes, whether biological or digital.
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