  Artificial life is a research field studying what processes and properties
define life, based on a multidisciplinary approach spanning the physical,
natural and computational sciences. Artificial life aims to foster a
comprehensive study of life beyond "life as we know it" and towards "life as it
could be", with theoretical, synthetic and empirical models of the fundamental
properties of living systems. While still a relatively young field, artificial
life has flourished as an environment for researchers with different
backgrounds, welcoming ideas and contributions from a wide range of subjects.
Hybrid Life is an attempt to bring attention to some of the most recent
developments within the artificial life community, rooted in more traditional
artificial life studies but looking at new challenges emerging from
interactions with other fields. In particular, Hybrid Life focuses on three
complementary themes: 1) theories of systems and agents, 2) hybrid
augmentation, with augmented architectures combining living and artificial
systems, and 3) hybrid interactions among artificial and biological systems.
After discussing some of the major sources of inspiration for these themes, we
will focus on an overview of the works that appeared in Hybrid Life special
sessions, hosted by the annual Artificial Life Conference between 2018 and
2022.
