layer 3 · theory
principle P8 · evolution by design and spread
Propagule abundance
Copies are nearly free, so establishment is limited by safe sites and detection, not by propagules.
- What a test would record
- modules against lineages, Rh against Rm
- Tested by
Pred 4 Modules (skills, prompts, persona seeds) sustain Rh>1 before any lineage reaches Rm>1.
Evidence in the register
Works it draws on
- Detecting and countering misuse of AI: September 2026
- Here Comes The AI Worm: Unleashing Zero-click Worms that Target GenAI-Powered Applications
- Mobile genetic elements: the agents of open source evolution
- Agent Smith: A Single Image Can Jailbreak One Million Multimodal LLM Agents Exponentially Fast
- The Rise of Parasitic AI
- Self-replicating prompt injections exist