Ascertain whether SUBLEQ-like languages can produce spontaneous self-replicators

Determine whether self-replicating programs can arise spontaneously in SUBLEQ-like computational substrates under random initialization and interaction rules, and if so, identify the conditions (e.g., instruction variants, tape sizes, mutation rates) that enable such emergence.

Background

The paper reports that, unlike other substrates, SUBLEQ-like environments did not exhibit spontaneous emergent self-replicators under the tested primordial soup conditions, although hand-crafted replicators can take over when seeded. The authors hypothesize that minimal replicator length may be a critical factor.

This open issue seeks to establish whether spontaneous replicators are possible in SUBLEQ-like settings and to understand what language or environmental adjustments would be required.