you want to present the strongest possible case that deterministic systems like the Autoverse can generate a biology as complex as real-world biology – that all the subtleties of real-world physics and quantum indeterminacy aren’t essential. And to deal with the objection that a complex biology might only arise in a complex environment, you want a description of a suitable ‘planet’ that could exist in the Autoverse – if not for the minor inconvenience that the hardware that could run it will almost certainly never be built.”
