Self-replication only makes sense in the context of some specific environment --- eg. Game-of-life, Earth, Moon, interstellar space, what-have-you. So specify your environment. If it is Earth, then people like Craig Ventner are apparently steadily progressing towards creation of an artificial bacterium --- it would surely be a brave man who would bet against some such project's completion within a few decades! http://www.univaq.it/include/utilities/blob.php?item=allegato&table=avviso&i... WFL On 5/16/15, Warren D Smith <warren.wds@gmail.com> wrote:
In the real world, as opposed to ConwayLife, I do not think anybody has ever come close to constructing a self-replicating "Von Neumann machine." (Right?)
I think we all agree it should be possible, and, e.g, such a machine could live on the moon... but trying to create it would be a huge undertaking -- how many years off?
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