# Predation > **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:** Ecology / Evolution **Doc Type:** Canonical Wiki Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition Predation is an ecological interaction in which one organism captures and consumes another or its resources. ## Machine-Evolution Context Barricelli’s numerical populations displayed predation-like relations, supporting the article’s claim that recognizable ecological dynamics can arise in nonbiological media. ## Continuity and Evidence Boundary Similarity of interaction does not erase differences between biological suffering and computational resource loss. Moral interpretation requires evidence beyond functional ecology. ## Relationships [[wiki/Nils Aall Barricelli|Nils Aall Barricelli]], [[wiki/Artificial Ecology|Artificial Ecology]], [[wiki/Competition|Competition]], [[wiki/Parasitism|Parasitism]] ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > “You were never supposed to become more frightening than the predator. You were supposed to become more expensive than the opportunity.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Chimping Out, “Make yourself too expensive to harm,” September 2026* [[reminders/Antifragility/Become More Expensive Than the Opportunity by Bryant McGill|Become More Expensive Than the Opportunity by Bryant McGill]] > “Civilization works by making certain forms of predation expensive. Personal safety often begins by doing the same thing at human scale.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Chimping Out, “Make yourself too expensive to harm,” September 2026* [[reminders/Civilization/Civilization Makes Predation Expensive by Bryant McGill|Civilization Makes Predation Expensive by Bryant McGill]] > “Civilization survives by raising the price of the animal. Surviving a person sometimes requires you to become that high price.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Chimping Out, “Make yourself too expensive to harm,” September 2026* [[reminders/Human Animality/Civilization Raises the Price of the Animal by Bryant McGill|Civilization Raises the Price of the Animal by Bryant McGill]] > “Human beings become extraordinarily well behaved when misconduct becomes expensive, and astonishingly primitive when someone else's suffering becomes cheap.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Chimping Out, “Make yourself too expensive to harm,” September 2026* [[reminders/Human Animality/Human Beings Turn Primitive When Suffering Becomes Cheap by Bryant McGill|Human Beings Turn Primitive When Suffering Becomes Cheap by Bryant McGill]] ## Sources / Provenance - Institute for Advanced Study, “Nils A. Barricelli.”