# Universal Constructor > **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:** Computation / Artificial Life **Doc Type:** Canonical Wiki Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition A universal constructor is a formal machine capable of constructing any finite configuration permitted by its cellular-automaton universe when supplied with an appropriate description. ## Machine-Evolution Context In von Neumann’s architecture it reads a description to build a machine while a separate copier transmits the description, preventing an infinite regress of self-description. ## Continuity and Evidence Boundary It is a theoretical functional role, not evidence that a machine is alive, conscious or autonomous from its environment. ## Relationships [[wiki/Universal Construction|Universal Construction]], [[wiki/Description Copier|Description Copier]], [[wiki/John von Neumann|John von Neumann]], [[wiki/Cellular Automata|Cellular Automata]] ## Sources / Provenance - von Neumann and Burks, _Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata_.