a very interesting approach to using embodiment as an explanatory principle for origins of life.

“A growing number of artificial life researchers propose that making progress on the problem of the origins of life requires taking seriously life’s embodiment: even very simple life-like systems that are spatially individuated can interact with their environment in an adaptive manner. This behavior-based approach has also opened up new perspectives on a related unsolved problem, namely the origin of the genetic code, which can now be seen as emerging out of iterated interactions in a community of individuals. Thus, artificial life demonstrates that the dominant scientific strategy of searching for the conditions of Darwinian evolution should be broadened to consider other possibilities of optimization.”