Leadup: Dr. Thompson used a genetic algorithm to program a FPGA to detect one of two tones. The result was: > Dr. Thompson peered inside his perfect offsprin

Leadup: Dr. Thompson used a genetic algorithm to program a FPGA to detect one of two tones. The result was: > Dr. Thompson peered inside his perfect offspring to gain insight into its methods, but what he found inside was baffling. The plucky chip was utilizing only thirty-seven of its one hundred logic gates, and most of them were arranged in a curious collection of feedback loops. Five individual logic cells were functionally disconnected from the rest— with no pathways that would allow them to influence the output— yet when the researcher disabled any one of them the chip lost its ability to discriminate the tones. (from https://www.damninteresting.com/on-the-origin-of-circuits/ https://www.damninteresting.com/on-the-origin-of-circuits/) Granted, the results were probably due to the quirks of the FPGA gates on that particular chip (and that particular area of the chip) but without further (potentially destructive) investigation, Dr. Thompson (or us for that matter) may never know the actual reason that circuit worked the way it did.