Random programs reliably evolve into self-replicators: why 'life is computation' may reshape how you think
paulnovosad · x · 2026-10-23
Economist Paul Novosad calls Computational Life (by Blaise Agüera y Arcas et al.) the best book he's read this year, with a thesis that the fundamental basis of life is computation.
His favorite example: Brainfuck is a Turing-complete language using only 7 characters <>+-.,[]. Put a random Brainfuck program in a digital petri dish and it will randomly edit itself, then evolve into a self-replicating machine — every single time.
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