Artificial life: sustainable self-replicating systems

TL;DR

Artificial Life explores the creation of life-like systems through interdisciplinary methods, aiming to discover alternative forms of life beyond natural biology, including computer-based and chemically different entities.

Contribution

This paper introduces the concept of Artificial Life as a field dedicated to creating and studying life-like systems that differ from natural life forms.

Findings

Artificial Life encompasses diverse approaches including chemical and computational systems.

It broadens understanding of what constitutes life and how it can be artificially created.

The field promotes interdisciplinary research bridging biology, computer science, and chemistry.

Abstract

Nature has found one method of organizing living matter, but maybe other options exist -- not yet discovered -- on how to create life. To study the life "as it could be" is the objective of an interdisciplinary field called Artificial Life (commonly abbreviated as ALife). The word "artificial" refers to the fact that humans are involved in the creation process. The artificial life forms might be completely unlike natural forms of life, with different chemical compositions, and even computer programs exhibiting life-like behaviours.