Microorganisms viruses and computer programs encode all the information necessary to
reproduce and spread themselves. Yet these mechanisms are amazingly similar in the animate
world in the world of viruses and even in the world of technical systems. The book shows how
great the parallels are between these various animate and inanimate replicating systems and
what they are based on. The excursion also leads into the fascinating world of genetics to the
question of what defines life and into the programming of software that multiplies itself
independently. Finally the question is derived whether and to what extent such
self-replicating technical systems can become as dangerous as infectious viruses in triggering
pandemics such as the Corona pandemic in 2020.
