replicator

Any construct that acts to produce copies of itself; this

could be a living organism, an idea (see meme), a program

(see quine, worm, wabbit, fork bomb, and virus), a

pattern in a cellular automaton (see life), or

(speculatively) a robot or nanobot. It is even claimed by

some that Unix and C are the symbiotic halves of an

extremely successful replicator; see Unix conspiracy.

[Jargon File]