Evolution continually innovates, but at each level it conserves the elements that are recombined to yield the innovations.

If we are to understand the interactions of a large number of agents, we must first be able to describe the capabilities of individual agents.

From the point of view of physics, it is a miracle that [seven million New Yorkers are fed each day] without any control mechanism other than sheer capitalism.

When a new building block is discovered, the result is usually a range of innovations.

This use of building blocks to generate internal models is a pervasive feature of complex adaptive systems.

nonlinear interactions almost always make the behavior of the aggregate more complicated than would be predicted by summing or averaging.

Holland's and Kauffman's work, together with Dawkins' simulations of evolution and Varela's models of autopoietic systems, provide essential inspiration for the new discipline of artificial life, This approach, initiated by Chris Langton (1989, 1992), tries to develop technological systems (computer programs and autonomous robots) that exhibit lifelike properties, such as reproduction, sexuality, swarming, and co-evolution.