# Attractor > **Machine-Evolution Nexus:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution]] places this node within the history and governance of substrate-independent evolution. **Domain:** Dynamical Systems / Complexity **Doc Type:** Canonical Wiki Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition An attractor is a state or set of states toward which a dynamical system tends to evolve from a surrounding region of initial conditions. ## Nexus Context Artificial evolutionary systems may settle into bounded regimes that continue changing without producing qualitatively new organization. Open-ended evolution seeks to avoid merely cycling within such limits. ## Evidence Boundary Attractor language describes dynamics; it does not imply purpose, desire or conscious attraction. ## Relationships [[wiki/Self-Organization|Self-Organization]], [[wiki/Open-Ended Evolution|Open-Ended Evolution]], [[wiki/Complexity|Complexity]], [[wiki/Phase Transition|Phase Transition]] ## Sources / Provenance - Dynamical-systems theory.