Theory of self-reproducing automata
by John Von Neumann · first published 1966
24mentions
4recommended by
12HN commenters
2011–2026first – last mentioned
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Most of my favourites have already been listed but one I found particularly interesting was Von Neumann's Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata [0]. [0] http://cba.mit.edu/events/03.11.ASE/docs/VonNeumann.pdf
on “Ask HN: What is your favorite CS paper?” ↗I've been reading Von Neumann's "Theory Of Self-Reproducing Automata" (freely available on Internet Archive and very much worth it!) and he constantly references and credits Turing. Nor have I ever heard anyone claim Turing's insights were sparked in a vacuum (or anyone's,…
Von Neumann died before he finished writing this book. Another unfinished work of his that's worth checking out is Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata where he introduces his conception of self-replicating automata [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_universal_construc...
on “The Computer and the Brain (1958) [pdf]” ↗IMHO, I'd date the concept of artificial life further back than Christopher Langton. I'd start with Von Neumann's Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata. Though the book was published in 1966, Von Neumann was working on the concept as early as the 1940s. In his work, "He asked what is the threshold of complexity that must be crossed for machines to…
on “Stanisław Lem's vision of artificial life” ↗…von Neuman's 29 state cellular automata machine is (ironically) a classical decidedly "non von Neumann architecture". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_cellular_automaton He wrote the book on "Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata": https://archive.org/details/theoryofselfrepr00vonn_0 He designed a 29 state cellular automata architecture to implement a universal constructor that could reproduce itself (which he worked out on…
on “Can Programming Be Liberated from the von Neumann Style? (1977) [pdf]” ↗…von Neuman's 29 state cellular automata machine is (ironically) a classical decidedly "non von Neumann architecture". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_cellular_automaton He wrote the book on "Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata": https://archive.org/details/theoryofselfrepr00vonn_0 He designed a 29 state cellular automata architecture to implement a universal constructor that could reproduce itself (which he worked out on…
on “Growing Neural Cellular Automata: A Differentiable Model of Morphogenesis” ↗I love the overtones of this article indirectly (but surely not accidentally) refer to self-replicating machines ala Von Neumann: Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata : http://cba.mit.edu/events/03.11.ASE/docs/VonNeumann.pdf
on “All NeXT Inc.'s Plant Lacks Is Orders (1990)” ↗> Of course, making such simplifications sort of defeats von Neumann's original purpose Yes. In von Neumann's last book "Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata", he thought about machines having viable offspring. This was more than a trick with patterns. He had invented the architecture of working computers, and was now moving on. As a math grad student at…
on “Self-Reproducing Cellular Automata” ↗…manipulate chemistry(the makeup of our planet doesn't seem extraordinary), and competition (once a self-reproducing automata exists at any scale, evolution takes over and life adapts- see Von Neumann's "Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata" to understand this further). Intelligent life isn't fundamentally different, because intelligence isn't a bar that is attained, but a gradual and emergent phenomena once sufficient numbers of "logic…
on “Galactic settlement of low-mass stars as a resolution to the Fermi paradox” ↗…game theory of John von Neumann transformed the 20th century." isn't addressed in this article unless briefly in passing. Poor editing (if that's the word for it). This part is intriguing: > In his Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata (published posthumously in 1966), von Neumann went even further, describing the conditions under which, with no more than eight parts (four structural and four dedicated to logical operations), complex…
on “How the game theory of John von Neumann transformed the 20th century” ↗Anyone looked into von Neumann, Theory of Self Reproducing Automata (1966) far enough to see if there's anything more there than a book-length discussion of physical quines? https://archive.org/details/theoryofselfrepr00vonn_0/page/n5... Lagniappe: https://archive.org/details/galaxymagazine-1955-11/page/n71/...
on “John von Neumann and his the "Artificial Systems" that helped found AI” ↗von Neumann, Theory of self-reproducing automata (1966) p.72 "Role of High Complication": > An automaton can not be separated from the milieu to which it responds. > The characteristics of a human for survival are well defined on the surface of the…
on “Physical Intelligence's first generalist policy AI can finally do your laundry” ↗This reads like marketing fluff, but I am reminded of John von Neumann's "Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata"; that the very first people who worked on deductive machines immediately started thinking about machines building themselves, and what the rules of that would look like. I am not surprised that during…
on “When AI Builds Itself” ↗…systems, and data flow programming in general! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22738268 >Here's some stuff about that I posted in an earlier discussion, and transcribed from John von Neumann's book, "Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata". >His concept of self-reproducing mutating probabilistic quantum mechanical machine evolution is quite fascinating and terrifying at the same time (or outside of time), potentially much more powerful…
on “Factorio 1.1 stable” ↗…robust first computing: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1M91QuLZfCzHjBMEKvIc-A John von Neumann's 29 State Cellular Automata https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22304084 John von Neumann's book "Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21858465 Factorio, and Will Wright on simulation games: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24163024
on “Ask HN: What weird technical scene are you fond/part of?” ↗