History of The Concept
The idea of non-biological self-replicating systems was introduced in Samuel Butler's article "Darwin Among the Machines" published only a few years after The Origin of Species. As a serious proposal, it was first suggested by mathematician John Von Neumann in the late 1940s when he proposed a kinematic self-reproducing automaton model as a thought experiment. See Von Neumann, J., 1966, The Theory of Self-reproducing Automata, A. Burks, ed., Univ. of Illinois Press, Urbana, IL.
Read more about this topic: Clanking Replicator
Famous quotes containing the words history of the, history of, history and/or concept:
“The reverence for the Scriptures is an element of civilization, for thus has the history of the world been preserved, and is preserved.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“... in a history of spiritual rupture, a social compact built on fantasy and collective secrets, poetry becomes more necessary than ever: it keeps the underground aquifers flowing; it is the liquid voice that can wear through stone.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“The history of the past is but one long struggle upward to equality.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
“The nearer a conception comes towards finality, the nearer does the dynamic relation, out of which this concept has arisen, draw to a close. To know is to lose.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)