So I had this terrible idea a few years ago to write some infrastructure automation that provisions a new compute instance, sets up secrets storage, configures IAM roles, authorizes the new instance to be able to provision new instance and roles via infra-as-code automation, and then the new instance tears down the instance and roles that created it, before then creating its own new compute instance, etc

Like a self-propagating glider in Conway's Game of Life, except with cloud infrastructure