replicator

	This is the JargonFile ^(V4.00) entry for replicator - Next: reply, Prev: religious issues
:replicator: /n./ 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, sense 1), 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]].
* (text is auto-included via JargonExtension by mutante using jargon with VERSION 4.0.0, 24 JUL 1996* - JargonFile by Eric S. Raymond is in the public domain)*