A Universal Framework for Analysis of Self-Replication Phenomena

In this paper, we propose definitions for a general, domain-independent concept of replicability and specifically focus on the notion of self-replication. We argue that self-replication should not be viewed as a binary property of a system, but rather as a continuously valued property of the interaction between a system and its environment. This property, self-replicability, represents the effect of the presence of a system upon the future presence of similar systems. We demonstrate both analytical and computational analysis of self-replicability for four distinct systems involving both discrete and continuous, formal and physical behaviors.