Seems like that's an assertion begging for an experiment. Take the software that manages experiments in Avida or Tierra, but don't supply pre-written organisms.

Seems like that's an assertion begging for an experiment. Take the software that manages experiments in Avida or Tierra, but don't supply pre-written organisms. Bit-flip randomly and see if something develops. Unfortunately I don't know the implementation details of those systems at all, so I can't say whether or not that would be feasible.