Have you heard of Von Neumann’s universal constructor? This seems relevant. He invented the concept of “cellular automaton” and engineered a programmable replicator in one. His original formulation was a lot more complex than Conway’s Life though, with 29 different states per cell. Edgar Codd later demonstrated an 8-state automaton powerful enough to build a universal constructor with.
Have you heard of Von Neumann’s universal constructor? This seems relevant. He invented the concept of “cellular automaton” and engineered a programmable replicator in one. His original formulation was a lot more complex than Conway’s Life though, with 29 different states per cell. Edgar Codd later demonstrated an 8-state automaton powerful enough to build a universal constructor with.