Machines as organisms: an exploration of the relevance of recent results

The capacity of machines to exhibit organism-like behavior is examined. Some known results on machine description, self-description, construction and self-construction, are reviewed. The basic mechanism of machines and the ways in which they can be combined to form more complex biological-like systems are put forth as a source of explanatory mechanisms in biology. The proven properties can be employed in the design of machines which can repair themselves, and can exhibit a behavior distinguishing between machines which are or are not structurally similar to themselves. It is then argued that in an appropriate setting of variation and competition, such behavior would arise without explicit design.