Artificial life, the second law of thermodynamics, and Kolmogorov Complexity

Abstract

One of the basic features of life is replication. Indeed one of the three components of evolution is inheritance, which implies some similarity (both phenotypic and genotypic) between parents and offspring. Life is a process and not a substance (e.g. being carbon-based does not capture what life is), and this therefore justifies an algorithmic definition. Artificial life is concerned with the study of synthetic life, and is implemented on a digital computer. Tierra is a particularly prominent instance, where rudimentary life forms compete for space and time. In this system interesting eco-systems emerge, for example demonstrating parasitic behavior.