Replicator (evolution unit), the theoretical basic unit of evolution in the gene-centered view of evolution A 2016 article in The New Yorker noted that replicators may be a "metaphor for the distant endpoint of the Industrial Revolution". [14] They point out that technology as presented in Star Trek: The Next Generation changes the moral equation of being human, because nearly anything you want can be created with a request. [14]

In 2005, Adrian Bowyer of the University of Bath started the RepRap project to develop a rapid prototyping machine that would be able to replicate itself, making such machines cheap enough for people to buy and use in their homes. The project is releasing material under the GNU GPL. [1]On some Starfleet vessels, the full range of meals programmed into replicators was limited to senior officers (at least Lieutenants and upwards) through the use of an access card, or certain areas only frequented by senior officers would have a replicator that could freely dispense higher quality recipes to anyone. Some types of meals were simply limited by volume, such as producing only one slice of pizza at a time. Limited recipes included gnocchi, fritters, lobster ravioli, macaroni and cheese with a breaded top, pasta with pesto, and lobster mac and cheese. ( LD: " Moist Vessel", " I, Excretus") In Star Trek a replicator is a machine that can create (and recycle) things. Replicators were originally seen to simply synthesize meals on demand, but in later series much larger non-food items appear. The technical aspects of replicated versus "real" things is sometimes a plot element. A number of patents have been granted for self-replicating machine concepts. [58] U.S. Patent 5,659,477 "Self reproducing fundamental fabricating machines (F-Units)" Inventor: Collins; Charles M. (Burke, Va.) (August 1997), U.S. Patent 5,764,518 " Self reproducing fundamental fabricating machine system" Inventor: Collins; Charles M. (Burke, Va.)(June 1998); and Collins' PCT patent WO 96/20453: [59] "Method and system for self-replicating manufacturing stations" Inventors: Merkle; Ralph C. (Sunnyvale, Calif.), Parker; Eric G. (Wylie, Tex.), Skidmore; George D. (Plano, Tex.) (January 2003). Gregory Chirikjian ( Johns Hopkins University), "Architecture for Unmanned Self-Replicating Lunar Factories" [35] Lifeless' prion proteins are 'capable of evolution' ". BBC News. 2010-01-01 . Retrieved 2013-10-22.

The U.S. should take a lesson from Ukraine to innovate and deploy technology fast or potentially miss the boat, according to several witnesses at a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing on the Defense Department’s Replicator program, which aims to scale drones within the next two years. von Neumann, J., 1966, The Theory of Self-reproducing Automata, A. Burks, ed., Univ. of Illinois Press, Urbana, IL. Greenwalt said the initiative should focus on “three things: money, production lines at full capacity and how to deliver these.” du Castel, Bertrand (2015-07-15). "Pattern activation/recognition theory of mind". Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience. 9: 90. doi: 10.3389/fncom.2015.00090. ISSN 1662-5188. PMC 4502584. PMID 26236228. Federation replicators often recycled waste produced by living beings – including fecal material – to provide the raw material for replicators. Such material was deconstructed down to the atomic level, and then recombined as needed into foodstuffs and other products. ( DIS: " There Is A Tide...")WIPO. "(WO/1996/020453) SELF REPRODUCING FUNDAMENTAL FABRICATING MACHINES (F-UNITS)". Wipo.int. Archived from the original on 2019-11-01 . Retrieved 2009-09-16. In 2004, Robert Freitas and Ralph Merkle published the first comprehensive review of the field of self-replication (from which much of the material in this article is derived, with permission of the authors), in their book Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines, which includes 3000+ literature references. [3] This book included a new molecular assembler design, [61] a primer on the mathematics of replication, [62] and the first comprehensive analysis of the entire replicator design space. [63] a b von Neumann, John; Burks, Arthur W. (1966), Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata. (Scanned book online), University of Illinois Press , retrieved 2017-02-28 The Enterprise-D's replicators were used to provide blankets to a Bajoran refugee camp. ( TNG: " Ensign Ro")

Biochemistry: simple systems of in vitro ribosomal self replication have been attempted, [15] but as of January 2021, indefinite in vitro ribosomal self replication has not been achieved in the lab. Exceptions to this pattern may be possible, although none have yet been achieved. For example, scientists have come close to constructing RNA that can be copied in an "environment" that is a solution of RNA monomers and transcriptase. In this case, the body is the genome, and the specialized copy mechanisms are external. The requirement for an outside copy mechanism has not yet been overcome, and such systems are more accurately characterized as "assisted replication" than "self-replication". Nonetheless, in March 2021, researchers reported evidence suggesting that a preliminary form of transfer RNA could have been a replicator molecule itself in the very early development of life, or abiogenesis. [3] [4] Toth-Fejel, Tihamer (2004). "Modeling Kinematic Cellular Automata: An Approach to Self-Replication". NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts. The Collins Patents on Reproductive Mechanics (1997-1998)". Molecularassembler.com. 2005-08-01 . Retrieved 2009-09-16.

The Foresight Institute has published guidelines for researchers in mechanical self-replication. [13] The guidelines recommend that researchers use several specific techniques for preventing mechanical replicators from getting out of control, such as using a broadcast architecture. Much of the design study was concerned with a simple, flexible chemical system for processing lunar regolith, and the differences between the ratio of elements needed by the replicator, and the ratios available in regolith. The limiting element was Chlorine, an essential element to process regolith for Aluminium. Chlorine is very rare in lunar regolith, and a substantially faster rate of reproduction could be assured by importing modest amounts. Replicator equation, a deterministic monotone non-linear and non-innovative game dynamic used in evolutionary game theory Space resources: NASA has sponsored a number of design studies to develop self-replicating mechanisms to mine space resources. Most of these designs include computer-controlled machinery that copies itself. Become a part of a global network of 3D creators and developers connecting and creating virtual worlds with NVIDIA Omniverse.