[SkyBelow]

>This is more or less what prions do.

I feel this is a bad example to use because prions only do so due to the existence of plenty of things as complex as prions. We would need an example that creates more complex structures out of simpler building blocks, not equally complex building blocks.

[arp242]

That's fair, but it's the best example I know of to demonstrate how this could have worked, even though it's not perfect. Happy to hear of other better examples.

[akasakahakada]

Crystal can grow itself if you put it into or let it touch a solution of its own kind.

I would say solid state is more complex than fluid.

[pfdietz]

Crystals have very little information content, though.

[flangola7]

What do you mean by information content.

[pfdietz]

The entropy of a perfect crystal approaches zero (at absolute zero). All the positions of the atoms are completely predetermined, so there is no information stored.

[akasakahakada]

You remind me this thing. Those non perfect crystals which are dominant in the real world can have some of the most weirdest behavior in term of quantum chemistry e.g. photo synthesis.

Advanced material science is making use of those crystals to make semi-conductors and stuffs because they can just absorb sunlight and then react with other substances.