# Robert Tappan Morris > **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:** Computing History / Cybersecurity **Doc Type:** Canonical Wiki Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition Robert Tappan Morris is a computer scientist who released the 1988 Morris Worm while a Cornell graduate student. ## Nexus Context The worm’s runaway reinfection showed how self-replication in a real network can escape designer intent through environmental interaction. Morris became the first person convicted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. ## Evidence Boundary The worm was not shown to evolve during the incident, and unintended spread is not evidence of machine agency. ## Relationships [[wiki/Morris Worm|Morris Worm]], [[wiki/Computer Fraud and Abuse Act|Computer Fraud and Abuse Act]], [[wiki/Internet|Internet]], [[wiki/Self-Replicating Program|Self-Replicating Program]] ## Sources / Provenance - FBI, “Morris Worm”; United States v. Morris.