Computer viruses run on hardware they do not create but merely hijack. Unless a virus took control of a semiconductor fab, it's hard to argue that they are alive/reproducing in the context of this discussion.
> Unless a virus took control of a semiconductor fab, it's hard to argue that they are alive/reproducing in the context of this discussion.
It does not seem implausible at this point to imagine a virus which gets to control some currency, uses it place an order for parts to be assembled, delivered to a location, connected to power, etc.
It is, in a sense, taking control by pulling the levers supplied by our society. Is that alive?
I would say no, it is not 'alive'… but I would also paraphrase Dijkstra: "The question of whether an AI or computer virus is 'alive' is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim."
Parasites do the same thing: hijack a piece of hardware and use it to reproduce. Computer viruses have even formed a kind of symbiotic ecosystem with blackhats: the scammer provides resources to help the virus reproduce, and the virus provides access to the scammer in turn.
In a way, all life hijacks hardware (the material world) that it doesn't create to reproduce itself.
Only analogously. The reality is that what we call computer viruses are merely instructions running on a computer and are not substantially distinct from the computer in the same way that parasites or physical viruses are distinct from biological tissue.
Simulated evolution is trivial to implement, but my guess is also a bit pointless from the point of view of most people writing viruses — the viruses might mutate to not give them money.
It does not seem implausible at this point to imagine a virus which gets to control some currency, uses it place an order for parts to be assembled, delivered to a location, connected to power, etc.
It is, in a sense, taking control by pulling the levers supplied by our society. Is that alive?
I would say no, it is not 'alive'… but I would also paraphrase Dijkstra: "The question of whether an AI or computer virus is 'alive' is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim."