Developing Insights into the Design of the Simplest Self-Replicator and Its Abstract Complexity, Part 1

Developing a Functional Model for the Simplest Self-Replicator

Abstract

This is the first in a three-part series investigating the internals of the simplest possible self-replicator (SSR). The SSR is defined as having an enclosure with input and output gateways and having the ability to create an exact replica of itself by ingesting and processing materials from its environment. This first part takes an analytical approach and identifies, one by one, the internal functions that must operate inside the SSR to be a fully autonomous replicator.