Interaction based evolution of self-replicating loop structures

Abstract

We propose an ecosystem of self-replicating cellular automaton loops by designing new rules for interactions between individual loops. The loops interact competitively with each other, from which a hypercycle-like network emerges. A spiral structure is seen to emerge from this model with five species. This spiral allows the formation of larger loops at the bounaries between different species. Unlike the single species case, our model allows larger loops to live for long periods of time, and they can replicate in spite of their necessarily lower replication speed.