---
slug: paper-von-neumann-j-1948-the-general-and-logical-theory-of-automata
title: von Neumann (1948): The General and Logical Theory of Automata
canonical: https://miscsubjects.com/a/paper-von-neumann-j-1948-the-general-and-logical-theory-of-automata
---

## What von Neumann Saw

John von Neumann presented this lecture at the Hixon Symposium in Pasadena on September 20, 1948. He modeled automata as logical systems built from simple components. He showed that such systems can construct copies of themselves when given the right instructions.

The core result is a logical description of self-reproduction. Von Neumann defined three automata: A constructs any described machine from parts; B copies instructions; C combines them to reproduce. Together they enable an automaton to build a duplicate including its own description.

This work directly models emergence of replication from rules. It links to genes as instructions and mutation as changes in those instructions.

## Exact Primary Works and Passages

The lecture appears in the 1951 volume Cerebral Mechanisms in Behavior: The Hixon Symposium, edited by Lloyd A. Jeffress. A PDF edition is available at https://www.cs.unm.edu/~eschulte/classes/cs591-rpc/data/vonneumann1951-glta.pdf.

Key passage on genes and reproduction (pp. 30-31 in some editions, corresponding to collected works pp. 316-318):

"For instance, it is quite clear that the instruction I is roughly effecting the functions of a gene. It is also clear that the copying mechanism B performs the fundamental act of reproduction, the duplication of the genetic material, which is clearly the fundamental operation in the multiplication of living cells. It is also easy to see how arbitrary alterations of the system E, and in particular of I, can exhibit certain typical traits which appear in connection with mutation, lethally as a rule, but with a possibility of continuing reproduction with a modification of traits."

Another passage on construction (p. 317 in collected works):

"Automaton A, which when furnished the description of any other automaton in terms of appropriate functions, will construct that entity... Automaton B, which can make a copy of any instruction I that is furnished to it."

Von Neumann notes the description must include the instruction slot itself for full self-reproduction.

## Convergence Patterns Evidenced

The work touches replication and memory patterns. Simple logical rules produce complex self-copying structures. It shows branching via mutation and flow networks through construction in a reservoir of parts. Bounded chaos appears in error discussions and reliability.

It evidences scale invariance in complication: larger descriptions yield more complex machines.

The lecture connects difference (instructions) to structure (built automata) to memory (copied descriptions).

## Distance from the Full OIP/GRAIN Synthesis

The paper stays within logical automata. It demonstrates self-reproduction as a formal possibility but does not address energy flows across physical scales or the full Ladder from difference to mind. It does not discuss the reader inside the system or Mirror Layer.

It provides a mechanistic foundation for replication patterns that later cellular automata work extended. The synthesis lens fits the results without claiming endorsement.

## Honest Limits and Disconfirming Edges

The model is kinematic and logical, not thermodynamic or physical. Von Neumann notes the instruction size grows with complexity and questions whether such a machine fits the universe.

Error and reliability sections highlight that real components fail, requiring redundancy. This undercuts perfect self-reproduction claims.

No empirical data on living systems; purely formal. Reductionist views, such as Weinberg-style emphasis on fundamental physics over emergent descriptions, apply here as the work remains at the level of discrete logic.

Claims rest on textual attribution and formal derivation, not observation of nature.
