Von Neumann redux: revisiting the self-referential logic of machine reproduction using the Avida world
McMullin, BarryORCID: 0000-0002-5789-2068 and Hasegawa, Tomonori
(2012)
Von Neumann redux: revisiting the self-referential logic of machine reproduction using the Avida world.
In: EMCSR 2012: European Meeting on Systems and Cybernetics Research, 10-13 Apr 2012, Vienna, Austria.
We introduce the distinctive, self-referential, logic of self-reproduction originally formulated by John von Neumann and present some initial results from a novel implementation of this abstract architecture, embedded within the Avida world. These show that, with this particular implementation, in this particular world, the von Neumann architecture proves to be evolutionarily unstable and degenerates, surprisingly easily, to a primitive, non-self-referential, “copying” or “template replication”, mode of reproduction. We briefly discuss some implications, and sketch prospects for further investigation.
Metadata
Item Type:
Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Event Type:
Conference
Refereed:
Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:
Self-reference; Self-reproduction; Semantic closure; Avida; von Neumann; Artificial life