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DIGITAL UNIVERSE. "What we're missing now, on another level, is not just biology, but cosmology. People treat the digital universe as some sort of metaphor, just a cute word for all these products. The universe of Apple, the universe of Google, the universe of Facebook, that these collectively constitute the digital universe, and we can only see it in human terms and what does this do for us?" https://lnkd.in/dVwXzv5 View in LinkedIn

ROUGH DIAMOND. "Ludwig managed a remarkable intellectual shift. He elevated the computer virus from the digital equivalent of a can of spray paint to an object capable of perhaps infinite variations and almost lifelike behavior. He transformed a tool of vandals into a field of scientific study by emphasizing a computer virus' biological affinity." (Graffiti malware to academic artificial life). https://lnkd.in/edrARjk View in LinkedIn

DIGITAL INFORMS BIOLOGY. "Running his beloved viruses through assorted experimental hoops and mazes, Ludwig followed them to the conclusion that Darwinian evolutionary mechanisms alone are just not mathematically fertile enough to have created and shaped life as we know it." https://lnkd.in/edrARjk View in LinkedIn

BINGO! Code elements that can swap information randomly, and which have some inheritable memory of antecedent code? This sounds like the digital equivalent of viruses and bacteria in nature. https://lnkd.in/edrARjk View in LinkedIn

BREEDING CODE. “The result: Ludwig's "Darwinian Genetic Mutation Engine," a programming utility that turns any normal DOS virus into a souped-up, genetically evolving polymorph, complete with an option for sexual gene-swapping between individuals that come into contact in the wild." https://lnkd.in/edrARjk View in LinkedIn

THE CONCEPT OF SPECIATION, a central part of evolution troubled by an unsolved definition, is in fact solved by thinking of variants or strains instead of species, instead of the idea of an immutable species with a clear species barrier. View in LinkedIn

THE GREATEST ACCIDENT. " How did life begin? I (and most scientists) would answer, “By accident.” But what an absolutely unlikely accident it must have been!" (George M Whitesides). https://lnkd.in/dv77eVE View in LinkedIn

REPLICATION, VARIATION, FITNESS. "Evolution as a process requires the presence of three simple elements: replication, variation and differential fitness. Replication allows for inheritance, and in particular the inheritance of variations, introduced by different mechanisms of mutation. These variations are then selected for or against via the competition of individuals over limited resources. The competition leads to differential fitness." Don't forget some reproductive isolation by speciation. https://lnkd.in/dGC6A7c View in LinkedIn

NO BRIGHT LINE. "Some kind of selection was needed in the chemical world before the emergence of evolution so that ‘it is meaningless to draw a strict line between the two worlds’." https://lnkd.in/dS2NY3q View in LinkedIn

ANALOGY WITH LIFE IS CLOSER. "What has changed in the past fourteen years is that the analogy with biological organisms is no longer highly tenuous." (George Dyson). https://lnkd.in/dVwXzv5 View in LinkedIn