---
title: "Xenoplex"
description: "A 2023 studio project (Darren Zhu, Connor Cook): a hypothetical \"coupled chemical-computational array\" that simulates prebiotic-Earth and speculative-astrobiological conditions so that biotic agents…"
type: "glossary-term"
canonical_url: "https://antikythera.wiki/terms/xenoplex"
md_url: "https://antikythera.wiki/md/terms/xenoplex"
last_updated: "2026-09-06"
site: "Antikythera Wiki"
---

# Xenoplex

> A working definition written for this wiki from the reading notes; not Antikythera's own wording. From Antikythera Wiki (https://antikythera.wiki/terms/xenoplex), an independent guide to Antikythera's published work.

A 2023 studio project ([Darren Zhu](https://antikythera.wiki/people/darren-zhu), [Connor Cook](https://antikythera.wiki/people/connor-cook)): a hypothetical "coupled chemical-computational array" that simulates prebiotic-Earth and speculative-astrobiological conditions so that biotic agents and abiotic selective pressures adapt to each other, compressing evolutionary time to run experiments impossible in the real world. Its philosophical claim is that computation has pushed biology not toward "living things are computers" but toward life as a replicating *process* that is "fundamentally technological," because living matter survives by transforming its niche with abiotic matter. Ends on "what if the whole experiment is alive?" — the earliest corpus statement of the life/intelligence/technology convergence later developed via assembly theory.

## Appears in

- [Cognitive Infrastructures](https://antikythera.wiki/work/journal/coginfra) (2025-05-10)
- [After Alignment](https://antikythera.wiki/work/journal/afteralignment) (2025-05-10)

_Glossary generated 2026-09-06._