Taylor, Tim. “Digital Genesis.”
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Darwinian natural selection requires: (i) Variation (ii) Differential reproduction (iii) Inheritance. The logic of Darwin’s argument seems to apply to any system with these features Including real and virtual machines. There has been a close relationship between ideas of evolution and complex machines dating all the way back to Darwin and earlier. In the 1830s, Babbage used his Difference Engine to demonstrate how discontinuities can arise in a system without external intervention. Compared this behaviour with discontinuities in Nature such as theappearance of new species. God creates the world initially, but it then runs according to natural law. Darwin saw Babbage’s demonstration (c. 1837, soon after Beagle voyage)