Could We Simulate Alien Life?

Imagine that, without any aliens having been ever found, we get to a point where we can build sub-atomically precise simulations of reality, spanning at least something the size (if not the likeness) of a solar system within the sim (if needed, we can scale up to galactic scales)... Assume we go about trying to create ('evolve' within the sim) our very own aliens, that is to say new organisms 'living' within these simulations, the likes of which have never existed on Earth.

Would we be able to create anything truly alien, or is our limited imagination and physical/biological convergence an inescapable boundary?

Good answers will have a rough sketch of how one would go about generating alien sim-life, or alternatively a decent explanation as to why it's not possible. As to what would qualify as 'truly alien', it's a hard call, but as a rule of the thumb, if I can imagine it relatively easily (say a griffon), it's probably not alien enough.

posted about 9 years ago

Serban Tanasa‭

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