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Developing Insights into the Design of the Simplest Self-Replicator (SSR) and its Complexity

Arminius Mignea – The Lone Pine Software

“Maybe I can say we’re halfway there.”

My attention was grabbed by the following fragment from the interview that Nobel scientist Jack Szostak gave on October 19, 2011 to New York Times reporter Claudia Dreifus regarding his research progress on

deciphering the Origin Of Life

: “How far have you gotten?

Maybe I can say we’re halfway there.

We think that a primitive cell has to have two parts. First, it has to have a cell membrane that can be a boundary between itself and the rest of the earth. And then there has to be some genetic material, which has to perform some function that’s useful for the cell and get replicated to be inherited…” (see the full interview here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/science/18conversation.html?_r=2&ref=scienc eandtechnology )

The above answer prompted me to think about how can I get some empirical, objective knowledge on what the Simplest Self Replicator (SSR) may look like

• • •

Goals, Assumptions and Requirements

Goals: – – Develop insights into internal design of the SSR Evaluate complexity in creating an artificial SSR Assumptions: – There is an intake of materials from outside SSR – – There is an output of refuse materials from inside SSR We assume throughout that we design for building an artificial SSR – that need not have a biological basis (not built with carbon-based chemistry) but is rather a ‘clunky’ one (made from metal, plastic, semiconductors, etc.) Requirements – SSR has an Enclosure to separate it and protect it from its environment – SSR is capable to create an identical copy of itself

The SSR (Simplest Self-Replicator) Schematic Illustration

SSR enclosure SSR components (in blue) SSR processes (in red)

What happens during SSR replication? – the “cloning” phase

What happens during SSR replication? – the “division” phase

What happens during SSR replication?

• • • • • Input raw materials and parts accepted by input enclosure gates Input materials processed through material extraction into good materials for fabrication of parts or for energy generation Energy is generated and made available throughout SSR Fabrication function starts to fabricate parts, components and assemblies for: – Cloning (creating copies) of all SSR internal elements – – Creating scaffolding elements for the growing SSR interior Creating new elements that are added to the growing enclosure When the cloning of all original SSR internal parts completed, the SSR division starts: – The original SSR content is now at (for example) “north pole” of the SSR enclosure – The cloned SSR content (the “nascent daughter SSR”) is now at the “south pole” of the SSR enclosure – The SSR enclosure and its content now divides at the “equatorial” plane and the separate “mother” (at North) and daughter (at South) SSR emerge.

How is the artificial SSR able to clone accurately all its internal parts?

Possible answers: A. By using

a mechanical copy process

– similar with that used to duplicate house keys B. By using

internal design information in combination with computer controlled automatons

How is the artificial SSR able to clone accurately all its internal parts?

continued I A. By using

a mechanical copy process

– similar with that used to duplicate house keys

WRONG ANSWER !!!

How is the artificial SSR able to clone accurately all its internal parts?

Continued II B. By using

internal design information in combination with computer controlled automatons CORRECT ANSWER !!!

Input Flow SSR Functions and Their Relationships Bill of Materials Construction Plan Materials & Parts Identif.

Construction Status Supply-Chain Transport Materials Extraction Energy Generation Recycling Fabrication Manipulation Scaffolding Growth Enclosure Growth Fabrication Ctrl&Assmbly Output Flow Cloning Division Communication & Notification Replication

• • •

Input Flow Control, Material Identification and Material Extraction Functions

Input Flow Control function – Opens/closes the enclosure input gateways – Acts based on the nature of input material/part and commands from other functions Material and Parts Identification function – Identifies nature of input materials and parts – Tags input materials and parts, manufactured materials and fabricated parts with type Id (bar code like) Material Extraction function – Uses specific processes to extract manufacturing materials from raw materials – Uses specific machinery and parts

Input Flow Control Function - illustrated

The Enclosure Gateway is closed at this time

Materials and Parts Identification Function

What is the material the bottle is made of?

It is Chocolate !!!

Yes, but the challenge is to have a robot find this out by itself

Material Extraction Function

• •

Energy Generation Function, Transport Function

Energy Generation function: – – Generates energy from raw or processed materials Distributes/transport and manages energy (electricity) – Uses special machinery: generators, transformers, converters – Material basis: one of fuel, oil, coal, chemical, atomic Transport – function: Transport materials and parts/components – Uses containers, conduits, wires, carriers – Transports also energy and information

Supply Chain Function, Recycling Function and Output Flow Control Function

• • • Supply Chain function: – – Ensures steady supply of materials, energy and parts Coordinating and scheduling capability Recycling – function: Re-introduce useful materials and parts in the fabrication cycle – Selects materials and parts as refuse; cleans spaces Output Flow Control function: – – Sends refuse materials and parts outside SSR Controls output gateways of the enclosure

Bill of Materials Function, Construction Plan Function, Construction Status Function • • • Bill of Materials function: – Catalogs of all materials and all parts – For each element: its composition in sub-elements and materials Construction Plan function: – Catalog of construction plan and design of all parts, components, assemblies including SSR – Catalog of all processes – Catalog of all procedures Construction Status function: – Uses replicas of construction plans to mark construction progress – Status updated by functions involved in fabrication and construction

• • •

Manipulation Function, Fabrication Function, Fabrication Control Function

Manipulation – function: Ability to “grab”, “handle”, “manipulate” materials, parts, components – Implemented with robot arm – like machinery Fabrication – Function: Must be able to fabricate any and all SSR parts and components – In particular able to fabricate all SSR machinery Fabrication Control function: – Follows the construction plans – Commands the fabrication function to manufacture next elements in the plan

Communication and Notification Function, Scaffolding Growth Function, Enclosure Growth • • • Function Communication and Notification function: – Facilitates communication between the “control” centers and “execution” centers – Notifications from “executor” to “controller” Scaffolding Growth function: – Controls construction and growth of SSR scaffolding – Mostly on the “daughter” SSR side Enclosure Growth function: – – Controls the construction and growth of the enclosure Addition of enclosure gateways; flexible geometry

• • •

Cloning Function, Division Function, Replication Function

Cloning function – – Choreographs the cloning phase Coordinates fabrication of the clone and growth of scaffolding and enclosure – Copies info catalogs and software into the cloned parts Division – function: Choreograph the SSR division phase – “start the engines” of the “daughter” SSR just before division completes Replication – – function: Highest level function: Implements the designer commandments: • Grow and • Multiply

Input Flow SSR Functions and Their Relationships Bill of Materials Construction Plan Materials & Parts Identif.

What we learned about the artificial SSR?

• • SSR must be designed for growth and division: the enclosure must support changing surface, volume and shape SSR must contain detailed, structured, cohesive descriptive information that must be accurately and integrally passed to next generations SSR. Required information: – – all used materials: identification, description, characteristics manufacturing materials: extraction procedures and processes – – bill of materials for all fabricated parts, components and assemblies procedures and processes for energy generation, storage (if needed) transportation and management – construction plans for all fabricated parts, components and assemblies including the SSR itself.

– – – all fabrication processes and procedures all assemblage procedures all recycling procedures and processes

What we learned about the artificial SSR? – continued I • • • • • • • SSR must contain advanced materials and parts identification capabilities as well as material extraction capabilities SSR must contain sophisticated, fully automated and computer-controlled capabilities for energy generation, transportation, management and distribution SSR must contain very sophisticated fabrication and assemblage capabilities that must be information-driven for full automation and computer control.

SSR must posses advanced computing (information processing) capabilities as well as good information communication capabilities.

SSR must control its many parts and layered functions through very advanced software running on SSR computer(-like) machinery.

Above all SSR must be based on a very sophisticated design that harmoniously, precisely and completely provides full automation and self-sufficiency for all machinery and processes that happens inside an SSR during its growth, division and replication.

The design of an SSR can be successful only if it is harmoniously integrated and precisely coordinated with the design and characteristics of its environment.

What we learned about the artificial SSR? – continued II • • • • • • • • • • • • • An artificial SSR most probable must contain: a material mining sub-unit a metallurgic subunit a chemical plant a power plant an electricity distribution network a network of avenues, alleys and conduits for robotized transportation a semiconductor manufacturing plant a computer manufacturing plant an extended communication network connecting by wire or rather wirelessly all plants and robots a software manufacturing plant and software distribution and installation agents.

a materials and parts recycling and refuse management plant an army of intelligent robots for transportation and manipulation a highly sophisticated distributed, multi-layered software system that controls in a cohesive manner all plants, robots and communications.

Evaluating the Complexity of an Artificial SSR

SSR: autonomous, computerized and automated – No comparable real engineering artifact in terms of: • Autonomy (materials, energy, fabrication closure, information closure, ‘intelligence’) • full manufacturing automation • spectrum of processes and fabrication types – No successful attempt so far on building a real autonomous artificial SSR from scratch. Attempts so far: • software simulations • cellular automata • self-replicating software entities • • RepRap – self replicating 3D printers self-assembling Lego robots • Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) • Craig Venter’s synthetic bacterial cell

Evaluating the Complexity of an Artificial SSR continued • • • Comparing a genuine artificial SSR with: An advanced car manufacturing/assembly line: – many/most parts are fabricated elsewhere – not fully automated; many manual operations performed by humans – – no material identification, material extraction capabilities not so many process technologies involved – mostly an assembly operation The Large Hadron Collider (HDC) in Switzerland – – no fabrication not comparable in terms of automation, process diversity The Martian Rover – – some good amount of autonomy no fabrication

SSR and the Origin Of Life (OOL) Research • • • • • • • • • Any OOL credible explanation should provide answers to the following questions: How the self describing information (of so many varieties) residing in the SSR originated?

How the energy generation and transport function originated?

How the material identification function and the material extraction function originated?

How the fabrication function originated How the transport and manipulation functions originated?

How the coordinated control of various functions originated?

How the whole sophisticated design of the SSR originated?

Is it reasonable to believe/accept that the SSR resulted through random/natural processes when the 21 st century scientists are only beginning to understand only SOME OF THE INTERNALS of a cell?

Is it reasonable to believe/accept that the SSR resulted through random/natural processes when the 21 st century scientists and engineers are still not able to design and create an artificial SSR?

NASA Advanced Automation for Space Missions The NASA 1980 study 1 edited by Robert A. Freitas, Jr. describes a lunar self replicating factory to be launching pad of galaxy exploration self-replicating probes ( a 20 year program). • • • • The seed of the lunar factory will weigh 100 tons Not all machinery could be built on Moon The project anticipated as being feasible in 21 st century The study mentions that the closure problem is not solved This study is one of the most realistic exploration of the design of an artificial “macro” SSR 1.

“Advanced Automation for Space Missions“ Edited by Robert A. Freitas, Jr. Space Initiative/XRI Santa Clara, California at http://www.islandone.org/MMSG/aasm/

REPRO – Colonizing the Galaxy

• • • • In 1980 Robert A. Freitas publishes in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society “A Self- • Reproducing Interstellar Probe” (REPRO) study 1 .

REPRO was a mammoth self-reproducing spacecraft to be built in orbit around Jupiter.

REPRO was a vast and ambitious project, equipped with numerous smaller probes for planetary exploration, but its key purpose was to reproduce. Each REPRO probe would create an automated factory that would build a new probe every 500 years. Probe by probe, star by star, the galaxy would be explored 2 .

The total fueled mass of REPRO was projected 1.

to be 10**10 Kg = 10 **7 tons = 10 million tons for a probe mass of 100,000 tons.

It takes 500 years to REPRO to create a replica of itself in the relative hospitable environment of a far-away planet The estimated exploration time of the galaxy was 1– 10 million years http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/ReproJBISJuly1980.htm 2. “Via Nanotechnology to the Stars” by Paul Gilster at http://www.centauri dreams.org/?p=96

Earth – Was “seeded” with Self Replicators (SRs) by an Advanced Civilization and a Master Designer • • • • Our Earth was seeded with a wide variety of SRs by and advanced civilization and a Master Designer: There are an estimated 9,7 million species of organisms (plants, animals, fish, insects, bacteria SRs) on planet EARTH The total number of self-replicating machines (SR’s) that work cooperatively on this planet is hard to estimate. It is believed that the number is between 10^20 (1 followed by 20 zeros) and 10^30 (1 followed by 30 zeros) There are strong dependencies between the design and existence of certain type of SRs on the design and existence on other type of SRs. For example the number of bacteria living within the body of the average healthy Homo Sapiens are estimated to outnumber human cells 10 to 1.

There are strong dependencies of the design and functioning of all SR types on the Earth environments and planetary environment conditions

A Dragonfly type of Self Replicator

Garden Flower Type of Self Replicator

A Tree Type of Self-Replicator

Self Replicating Trees

The Metaphysics of It All

• • • A reasonable scientific hypothesis is that the

Master Designer

designed wisely all SSR types for this successful cohabitation of the Homo Sapiens SSR with all other types of SSRs. More so it is hypothesized (again scientifically) that the Earth, the Solar System, the Milky Way Galaxy and the Whole Universe was designed by the

Master Designer

that Homo Sapiens has a comfortable place to live. so More so, besides having a comfortable place to live Homo Sapiens have plenty of SSR types to study and to marvel at the fabulous skills of the

Master Designer

blatantly in His SSR designs. revealed so More so, besides having amazing engineering feats to discover and admire, the Homo Sapiens has a rightful

Master Designer

to praise and worship all his life.