> I believe we care about self-directed thought, or agency. And a computer program needs to keep running to achieve that because it needs to interact with the w

> I believe we care about self-directed thought, or agency. And a computer program needs to keep running to achieve that because it needs to interact with the world. By that definition, every computer virus and worm qualifies as having "self-directed thought" and "agency." Their very existence "to keep running" and propagate satisfies the need "to interact with the world."