Self-replication is any behavior of a
dynamical system that yields construction of an identical copy of itself.
Biological cells, given suitable environments, reproduce by
cell division. During cell division,
DNA is replicated and can be transmitted to offspring during
reproduction.
Biological viruses can
replicate, but only by commandeering the reproductive machinery of cells through a process of infection. Harmful
prion proteins can replicate by converting normal prions into rogue forms.
Computer viruses reproduce using the hardware and software already present on computers. Self-replication in
robotics has been an area of research and a subject of interest in
science fiction. Any self-replicating mechanism which does not make a perfect copy will experience
genetic variation and will create variants of itself. These variants will be subject to
natural selection, since some will be better at surviving in their current environment than others and will out-breed them.
