Current and Next Phases of Development of cLife (CA-Based Life)

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the contents of earlier five chapters. Living and nonliving objects coexist in nature. The basic building blocks of both boil down to their atomic/molecular structures. The first chapter introduces the history of development of basic sciences. Based on this brief survey, it has been hypothesized that the building blocks of elements can be expressed as a set of numbers (quantum, atomic) that guide the processing of information contained in the elements for interaction with other elements. The biomolecules (RNA, DNA, and protein) essential for life are next introduced in Chaps. 3–5 subsequent to presentation of the methodologies for design of CA rules in Chap. 2 for seven micromolecules. The basic building blocks of the macromolecules are these micromolecules—sugar–phosphate, five nucleotide bases, and amino acids. Interactions of the macromolecules generate all the biological functions to sustain life. It has been hypothesized that macromolecules of life can be expressed as set of numbers derived out of CA designed with the CA rules modeling the micromolecules. The model has been named cLife (CA-based Life). The chapter also covers the major advantages of cLife compared to Molecular Dynamic (MD) simulation and AI/ML frameworks. The chapter concludes with the future roadmap for cLife model development along with the major hurdles authors encountered in the current phase of development.

“Focusing on artificial life frees us to explore novel chemical systems, but what we learn from these systems helps us to understand possible pathways leading to the origin of life”.

—Jack W. Szostak