Abstract :
The late John von Neumann took an interest in a mechanical modeling of self-reproducing phenomena of living things, which are far more complex and purposeful than a mere regeneration of a facsimile of the structures found, for example, in the growth of a crystal in a solution of the constituent substance. After some initial work with some kinematic models of such phenomena, he found a two-dimensional array of identical finite-state machines to be a convenient medium in which to study self- reproducing phenomena represented as the successive state distributions of finite state machines[1].
