The first detailed mechanistic models for genome
based reproduction were developed by John von Neumann in the
period 1948-1953
(
von Neumann, 1949;
Burks, 1966;
von Neumann, 1948).
While these models were extremely abstract, subsequent
elaboration of the structure and function of DNA proved von
Neumann's designs to have been strikingly prescient. However,
some significant questions still remain as to the specific
benefits of this particular reproductive architecture. These
questions are relevant both to understanding the evolutionary
emergence of such systems, and their proper role in engineered or
synthetic evolutionary systems. This paper will review these
issues, and present some preliminary results of novel
evolutionary experiments in the
Tierra system
(
Ray, 1992), where artificial ``organisms'' are
deliberately engineered to have an
evolvable genetic
architecture.
The Problem Situation
