Recent years have seen an explosion in new types of on-line worlds accessible both to human users and, increasingly, automated electronic systems - from new e- Business services to advanced Web applications and Internet based multi-player gaming worlds.

The aim of this paper is consider how it might already be possible (although potentially illegal) to exploit these on-line environments in order to construct wholly autonomous electronic entities able to act for themselves: sustaining themselves financially, choosing their own actions, interacting with humans - and surviving for extended periods without external assistance. The paper is structured as a "thought experiment" on how mechanisms necessary for self sustainability might be put in place and the potential implications of creating such automated entities.