There is another cellular automaton called the Cyclic Cellular Automaton (warning: Java applet). There, these viruses emerge naturally, without any effort. They are called daemons. When several of them meet, a pretty pattern emerges. I always use these to help visualize agents burning the cosmic commons with the speed of light,
Conway’s Game of Life is Turing-complete. Therefore, it is possible to create an AI in it. If you created a 3^^3 by 3^^3 Life board, setting the initial state at random, presumably somewhere an AI would be created. Would this AI somehow take over the whole game board, if given enough time?
Would this be visible from the top, as it were?
EDIT: I probably meant 3^^^3, sorry. Also, by generating at random, I meant 50% chance on. But any other chance would work too, I suspect.