The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

Artificial Life

    (a-life) The study of synthetic
   systems which behave like natural living systems in some way.
   Artificial Life complements the traditional biological
   sciences concerned with the analysis of living organisms by
   attempting to create lifelike behaviours within computers and
   other artificial media.  Artificial Life can contribute to
   theoretical biology by modelling forms of life other than
   those which exist in nature.  It has applications in
   environmental and financial modelling and network
   communications.

   There are some interesting implementations of artificial life
   using strangely shaped blocks.  A video, probably by the
   company Artificial Creatures who build insect-like robots in
   Cambridge, MA (USA), has several mechanical implementations of
   artificial life forms.

   See also evolutionary computing, Life.

   [Christopher G. Langton (Ed.), "Artificial Life", Proceedings
   Volume VI, Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of
   Complexity.  Addison-Wesley, 1989].

   Yahoo! (http://yahoo.com/Science/Artificial_Life/).

   Santa Fe Institute (http://alife.santafe.edu/).

   The Avida Group
   (http://krl.caltech.edu/avida/Avida.html).

   (1995-02-21)