W. Fontana et Lw. Buss, WHAT WOULD-BE CONSERVED IF THE TAPE WERE PLAYED TWICE, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United Statesof America, 91(2), 1994, pp. 757-761
We develop an abstract chemistry, implemented in a lambda-calculus bas
ed modeling platform, and argue that the following features are generi
c to this particular abstraction of chemistry; hence, they would be ex
pected to reappear if ''the tape were run twice'': (i) hypercycles of
self-reproducing objects arise; (ii) if self-replication is inhibited,
self-maintaining organizations arise; and (iii) self-maintaining orga
nizations, once established, can combine into higher-order self-mainta
ining organizations.