[4] Eccentric tech billionaire Daniel Cliff wants to launch a project to use his technology based on crystallography to simulate a natural evolution of artificial intelligence.
He tries to recruit AI researcher Julie Dehghani, but she refuses cooperation and raises moral and ethical concerns as the project would include suffering and death for the simulated beings.
Daniel contacts a Phite called Primo to reveal him the truth about his existence and to seek his help to develop a larger computer capable to extend their virtual world.
Egan's novel Permutation City, which was released in 1994, also deals with the natural evolution of simulated beings, which in the novel happens with a cellular automaton called Autoverse.
In an FAQ after the novel was published, Egan wrote, What I regret most is my uncritical treatment of the idea of allowing intelligent life to evolve in the Autoverse.