Each replicator, then, has copies of itself made. Each copy is the same as the original, and has the same properties as the original. Among these properties, of course, is the property of making (sometimes with errors) more copies of itself. So each replicator is potentially the 'ancestor' of an indefinitely long line of descendant replicators, stretching into the distant future, and branching to produce, potentially, an exceedingly large number of descendant replicators. Each new copy must be made from raw materials, smaller building blocks knocking around. Presumably the replicators act as some kind of mould or template. Smaller components fall together into the mould in such a way that a duplicate of the mould is made. Then the duplicate breaks free and is able to act as a mould in its own right. Hence we have a potentially growing population of replicators. The population will not grow indefinitely, because eventually the supply of raw materials, the smaller elements that fall into the moulds, will become limiting.
