Causal Biomimesis: Self-replication as Evolutionary Consequence

Abstract

For millions of years, hominins have been engaged in tool-making and concomitant experimentation. This cognitive enterprise has eventually led to the creation of synthetic intelligence in the form of complex computing and artificial agents, whose purported purpose is to elucidate the workings of human biology and consciousness, automate tasks, and develop interventions for disease. However, much of the expensive research efforts invested in understanding complex natural systems has resulted in limited rewards for treatment of disease. This paper proposes the novel ‘causal biomimesis’ hypothesis: with respect to the relationship between humans and artificial life, the virtually inevitable intrinsic evolutionary consequence of tool-making and biomimetic efforts—and the capacity for objective thought and the scientific method itself—is the full-scale replication of human cognitive functionality, agency, and potentially consciousness in silico. This self-replication transpires through a cycle of anthropogenic biomimetic auto-catalysis driven by instrumental cognition—from objective reasoning in hominin tool-maker through to post-biological reproduction by synthetic agents—and is self-organized and co-enacted between agent and the produced artefactual aggregates. In light of this radical hypothesis, existential and ethical implications are considered for further exploration.