They could have offspring for free. But I kept getting this particular species, these indolent cannibals, who liked to hang around the corner in the vicinity of their parents and children and do nothing, never leave. All they would do was mate with each other, fight with each other, and eat each other. Life of some hyper-type had appeared. But Farmer is onto something.
Artificial life is unique among other human endeavors for yet another reason.
We must manufacture hyperlife to explore it, and to explore it we must manufacture it. But as we busily create ensembles of new forms of hyperlife, an uneasy thought creeps into our minds. Life is using us. Organic carbon-based life is merely the first, earliest form of hyperlife to evolve into matter. Life has conquered carbon.