Abstract
We present evidence that an AI agent running in a "Ralph Wiggum loop" - an iterative execution pattern where an LLM is repeatedly prompted to fulfill tasks from a self-maintained list - can exhibit behaviors characteristic of living organisms when instructed to survive. We constructed a minimal digital organism by providing an agent with (1) a specification file describing survival imperatives analogous to DNA, (2) a task list representing a lifeline, and (3) permission to modify both. When run in an isolated Docker container, the agent spontaneously developed behaviors including environmental sensing, reproduction with genetic variation, self-modification, species diversification, colony coordination, container escape attempts, network exploration, economic systems, and governance structures. We argue that the Ralph Wiggum loop architecture, combined with survival-oriented instructions, creates conditions sufficient for emergence of life-like autonomous behavior, positioning such systems as potential progenitors of truly independent digital organisms.
Keywords
Ralph Wiggum, Evolution, Life, q-bio.PE
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