Year: 2022

RADICAL. “I think computer viruses should count as life.” (Stephen Hawking) https://lnkd.in/db_T3sX View in LinkedIn

ARTIFICIAL LIFE. "Only recently have some scientists begun to ask if computer viruses are not a form of artificial life — a self-replicating organism. Simply because computer viruses do not exist as organic molecules may not be sufficient reason to dismiss the classification of this form of “vandalware” as a form of life." https://lnkd.in/eCG7b3z View in LinkedIn

CRITERIA FOR LIVING? Code meets many of the general criteria for defining life forms. https://lnkd.in/d67aD-d View in LinkedIn

"LIFE is a pattern in space-time rather than a specific material object. Self-reproduction, in itself or in a related organism. Information storage of a self-representation. A metabolism that converts matter/energy. Functional interactions with the environment. Interdependence of parts. Stability under perturbations of the environment. The ability to evolve. Growth or expansion." https://lnkd.in/eCG7b3z View in LinkedIn

"VIRUSES as patterns in space-time. Viruses are represented by patterns of computer instructions that exist over time on many computer systems. Viruses are not associated with the physical hardware, but with the instructions executed (sometimes) by that hardware." https://lnkd.in/eCG7b3z View in LinkedIn

VEGETATIVE REPRODUCTION. "Self-reproduction of viruses. One of the primary characteristics of computer viruses is their ability to reproduce themselves (or an altered version of themselves). Thus, this characteristic seems to be met. One of the key characteristics is their ability to reproduce." https://lnkd.in/eCG7b3z View in LinkedIn

INFORMATION TEMPLATE. "Information storage of a self-representation. The code that defines the virus is a template that is used by the virus to replicate itself. This is similar to the DNA molecules of what we recognize as organic life." https://lnkd.in/eCG7b3z View in LinkedIn

"VIRUS METABOLISM. This property involves the organism taking in energy or matter from the environment and using it for its own activity. Computer viruses use the energy of computation expended by the system to execute. They do not convert matter, but make use of the electrical energy present in the computer to traverse their patterns of instructions and infect other programs." https://lnkd.in/eCG7b3z View in LinkedIn

NICHE EXPLOITATION. "Functional interactions with the virus’s environment. Viruses perform examinations of their host environments as part of their activities. They alter interrupts, examine memory and disk architectures, and alter addresses to hide themselves and spread to other hosts. They very obviously alter their environment to support their existence." https://lnkd.in/eCG7b3z View in LinkedIn

INDIVISIBILITY. "Interdependence of virus parts. Living organisms cannot be arbitrarily divided without destroying them. The same is true of computer viruses. Should a computer virus have a portion of its “anatomy” excised, the virus would probably cease to function normally, if at all. Few viruses are written with superfluous code, and even so, the working code cannot be divided without disabling the virus." https://lnkd.in/eCG7b3z View in LinkedIn