Since early cybernetics studies by Wiener, Pask, and Ashby, the properties of living systems are subject to deep investigations. The goals of this endeavour are both understanding and building: abstract models and general principles are sought for describing organisms, their dynamics and their ability to produce adaptive behavior. This research has achieved prominent results in fields such as artificial intelligence and artificial life. For example, today we have robots capable of exploring hostile environments with high level of self-sufficiency, planning capabilities and able to learn. Nevertheless, the discrepancy between the emergence and evolution of life and artificial systems is still huge. In this paper, we identify the fundamental elements that characterize the evolution of the biosphere and open-ended evolution, and we illustrate their implications for the evolution of artificial systems. Subsequently, we discuss the most relevant issues and questions that this viewpoint poses both for biological and artificial systems.

中文翻译：

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生物体的出现

自从维纳、帕斯克和阿什比的早期控制论研究以来，生命系统的特性受到了深入研究。这项工作的目标是理解和构建：寻求抽象模型和一般原则来描述生物体、它们的动态以及它们产生适应性行为的能力。该研究在人工智能、人工生命等领域取得了突出成果。例如，今天我们拥有能够探索恶劣环境的机器人，具有高水平的自给自足、规划能力和学习能力。尽管如此，生命的出现和进化与人工系统之间的差异仍然巨大。在本文中，我们确定了生物圈进化和开放式进化的基本要素，并说明了它们对人工系统进化的影响。随后，我们讨论该观点对生物和人工系统提出的最相关的问题。