Frozen Evolution. Or, that’s not the way it is, Mr. Darwin. A Farewell to Selfish Gene.

Complexity is not necessary for the functioning of natural selection; however, it is necessary so that it can act towards biological evolution. If systems capable of undergoing natural selection are modelled on a computer and their development is observed, it is probable that many phenomena that occur during real biological evolution will appear on the monitor. However, even the greatest optimist would not expect that, after a certain period of time, a real living organisms will peer out of the monitor as a product of pseudobiological evolution occurring inside the computer. A computer can be present in only a finite number of states, so that only predetermined structures can be formed in it. Even if biological evolution of certain data structures were to start up in a computer, they would sooner or later encounter the limits of the hardware of the particular computer. However, it will become more interesting when computers are connected in the global computer network to a greater degree than at the present time. It is quite possible that, especially some programs of the computer virus type will develop spontaneously, e.g. towards lower virulence, i.e. towards lesser ability to damage users of the infected computer, or could even become useful for the user, e.g. in that they immunize his computer against infection by some other detrimental virus.