[scarmig]

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.

[nyokodo]

> Parasites do the same thing

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.

[mewpmewp2]

Computer viruses need to get an ability to mutate by themselves, improving the code overtime though.

[ben_w]

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.

[scarmig]

Those mutations would probably be favored by evolution, if anything. They would attract less attention and allow more focus on reproduction.