I urge anyone who's interested in that kind of stuff to read "Allure of machinic life" by John Johnston [1]. A fascinating read that touches upon all strands of natural computing (soft / hard ALife, wetware, AI, evolutionary computation, swarm intelligence, behavior-based robotics, 1st and 2nd order cybernetics, theory of self-reproducing automata and whatnot) with a pondering touch of Deleuzian philosophy.<p>There's no mention of Barricelli though, but another equally interesting book [2] recognizes his pioneering work on artifical symbiogenesis (and that was back in 1953!), and speculates on its importance in the genealogy of computer worms and viruses.<p>[1]: <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/allure-machinic-life" rel="nofollow">https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/allure-machinic-life</a><p>[2]: <a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/58766" rel="nofollow">https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/58766</a>
Discussed at the time: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7919850" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7919850</a><p>A bit from a month ago: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20439790" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20439790</a>
If you find this interesting, I recommend also looking into genetic algorithms, artificial life (alife), cellular automata, Conway's game of Life, falling sand games, and Karl Sims virtual creatures.
Nanopond more closely matches what you might envision an artificial petri dish looks like: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5yE8Si8rMM" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5yE8Si8rMM</a>
As a counter perspective check out "Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics"<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Evolutionary-Informatics-Robert-Marks/dp/9813142146" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Evolutionary-Informatics...</a>