# Artificial Ecology > **Machine-Evolution Nexus:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution]] places this concept within the history and governance of substrate-independent evolution. **Domain:** Artificial Life / Systems **Doc Type:** Canonical Wiki Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition An artificial ecology is an engineered environment in which computational or synthetic entities interact through resources, spatial structure and one another’s behavior. ## Machine-Evolution Context Tierra and Avida show that ecology is more than a fitness score: entities modify the effective selection environment, generating parasites, defenses, cooperation and shifting niches. ## Continuity and Evidence Boundary Designers remain responsible for the substrate, interfaces and escape boundaries even when population outcomes are not directly scripted. ## Relationships [[wiki/Tierra|Tierra]], [[wiki/Avida|Avida]], [[wiki/Ecosystem Scenario|Ecosystem Scenario]], [[wiki/Resource Constraint|Resource Constraint]] ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > "Perhaps our descendants will learn the skill of understanding machines in childhood as easily as we learned to read." > **— Christopher Chabris**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Machine Succession/Children May Learn to Understand Machines by Christopher Chabris|Children May Learn to Understand Machines by Christopher Chabris]] > "Human minds are incredibly complex, but have been battle-tested into (relative) stability over eons of evolution in a variety of extremely challenging environments." > **— Anthony Aguirre**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Evolution/Human Minds Were Battle-Tested by Evolution by Anthony Aguirre|Human Minds Were Battle-Tested by Evolution by Anthony Aguirre]] > "Our thinking machines will be smarter than we are, and the machines they make will be smarter still." > **— W. Daniel Hillis**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Machine Succession/Machines Will Build Smarter Machines by W. Daniel Hillis|Machines Will Build Smarter Machines by W. Daniel Hillis]] > "One can picture and debate a thinking machine to augment the experience of our solitary walker." > **— Ursula Martin**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Machine Succession/Thinking Machines Could Augment Solitary Experience by Ursula Martin|Thinking Machines Could Augment Solitary Experience by Ursula Martin]] > "Eventually commonly available information processing technology will probably become so sophisticated that making thinking machines will not all that hard to do." > **— Gregory Paul**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Machine Succession/Thinking Machines May Eventually Become Easy to Build by Gregory Paul|Thinking Machines May Eventually Become Easy to Build by Gregory Paul]] ## Sources / Provenance - Thomas Ray (1991); Avida documentation; Müller, Steels and Szathmáry (2026).