# Virtual Memory > **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 / Digital Ecology **Doc Type:** Canonical Wiki Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition Virtual memory abstracts memory addresses from physical hardware, allowing processes to operate within managed address spaces. ## Nexus Context Avida places digital organisms in protected memory regions, while Tierra uses shared memory. That architectural difference changes which interactions and parasitic strategies are possible. ## Evidence Boundary Memory isolation is ecological and governance design. It can constrain interactions without making a system independent of physical hardware or operators. ## Relationships [[wiki/Avida|Avida]], [[wiki/Tierra|Tierra]], [[wiki/Artificial Ecology|Artificial Ecology]], [[wiki/Operational Substrate|Operational Substrate]] ## Sources / Provenance - Operating-systems texts; Avida and Tierra system descriptions.