We demonstrate a programmable mobile self-replicator for a non-deterministic, indefinitely scalable computing architecture. We present a 20 day case study that begins by deploying a single diamond-shaped structure, loaded with handwritten “ancestor” code, into a tiled hardware matrix. That diamond moves, grows, and replicates in about an hour, and during the first day the diamond population reaches the carrying capacity of the 76 tile prototype machine. By analyzing captured matrix images, we derive basic vital statistics of the diamond population. This paper presents the new replicator in the context of related work, focusing on the division of labor between ‘physics’ and ‘biology’ in this open-source computational stack. It concludes with a call to focus on paths to technological utility for these robust, scalable, and life-like computational structures.

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© 2023 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license
2023
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Issue Section:
General Conference