SimSoup: Artificial chemistry meets pauling

Abstract

Theories of the Origin of Life can be categorised as 'template replication first' and 'metabolism first'. A key question for metabolism first theories is the mechanism for transfer of inherited information. Earlier work presented a mechanism based on catalytic cycles, along with supporting results from the SimSoup artificial chemistry simulator. The current paper presents an enhanced SimSoup model that is closer to real chemistry and more open ended. Molecules and the types of Interactions between them are constructed by the model itself using simple rules based on valence theory. Results of a preliminary run of the model are presented. Most of the Molecules produced are of a few simple types with low molecular weight. There is a 'long tail' of many low frequency Molecules, many of which are more complex with high molecular weight. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.