Life, in some part of the Universe, could have evolved this way
During the XV International Conference on the Origin of Life held in Florence, Italy, Jack Szostak, a molecular biologist at Harvard Medical School, described a process that could lead to the building of cell structures that could almost be called life, as able to self-replicate.
It can not be called artificial life yet, as the process is not totally autonomous. Anyway life, in some part of the Universe, could have evolved following also this path.