Some problems of interest in the complex organisation of general systems are the following. How hard is it to achieve such an organisation? Which kind of organisation is a living system? How does nature organise parts? What are the useful parts? How long can it take to organise life-like complex system?
This survey paper examines some of these questions, which define the new field referred to as artificial life. Arrangement, evolution of complex systems, interactive evolution, neutral evolution are considered, via modelling in the form of iterative maps. The importance of critical states is pointed out. The author concludes with the remark that it is very unlikely that artificial life is not possible.
For the entire collection see [Zbl 0954.00019].