Towards origins of virtual artificial life: an overview

The field of artificial life (ALife) studies 'life as it could be', in contrast to biology's study of 'life as we know it to be'. This includes a wide range of potential physical substrates, from synthetic biology (new genes), through xenobiology (new amino acids and DNA bases), inorganic chemistry (different structural elements), soft and hard robotics (new kinds of bodies) and also virtual life (existing inside a computer). Since any such life forms are artificial, the originating mechanisms can be similarly artificial, or can attempt to emulate natural mechanisms. Given the wide range of possible substrates and origins, it is crucial to have good definitions, and well-defined ways to detect and measure life, if and when it originates. This overview examines the current state of the art in ALife in defining, detecting and originating its subject matter, with its main focus on virtual life. After discussing common properties of several definitions of life, the overview synthesizes an engineering-focussed definition, in terms of abstract requirements, generic designs and specific implementation mechanisms, and then reviews the current state of the art through this lens. Although virtual ALife that satisfies all these requirements is yet to be exhibited, significant progress has been made on engineering individual mechanisms and, arguably, partially alive systems.This article is part of the theme issue 'Origins of life: the possible and the actual'.