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This is a neat project! Another interesting project with self-replicating and evolving computer programs is Avida, developed in Charles Ofria’s lab. http://avid

by tkt 5y ago

This is a neat project! Another interesting project with self-replicating and evolving computer programs is Avida, developed in Charles Ofria’s lab. http://avida.devosoft.org/ http://avida.devosoft.org/ It’s been used to research evolutionary processes in collaboration with Richard Lenski who leads the long term E. coli evolution experiment. e.g. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature01568 https://www.nature.com/articles/nature01568 There’s also an Avida-ED version designed for classroom use.

shpralex 5y ago
Thanks! I hadn't realized but Tierra and Avida are quite similar to SproutLife. I found this video that explains a bit about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouF8wKxXWFQ&t=1050s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouF8wKxXWFQ&t=1050s I wonder if they also encountered the issue where the genomes/programs get simpler over time. In some ways one would expect evolution to increase complexity, but what I found happening is that prioritizing reproduction means creating pressure to decrease complexity, thereby increasing the reproduction rate and decreasing the footprint for negative mutations. The way SproutLife counteracted this was to add a "competitive" metric where bigger organism win over smaller ones, kind of like big trees casting shade to block smaller shrubs.
- tkt 5y ago
  As it seems like you’re seeing, what evolves depends a lot on what you’re selecting for and the environment they’re ‘growing’ in. This is another paper with more details. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7123229/pdf/978-1-84628-214-0_Chapter_1.pdf https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7123229/pdf/978... My favorite stories are the ones where the organisms evolved to be able to detect when they were in the test environment and only performed the high-cost, selected-for behavior there.
  - tkt 5y ago
    If you haven’t run across it yet, Karl Sims’ virtual creatures are also really fascinating. https://www.karlsims.com/evolved-virtual-creatures.html https://www.karlsims.com/evolved-virtual-creatures.html And anything by Melanie Mitchell. Her book “An Introduction to Genetic Algorithms” is great.

by tkt 5y ago

shpralex 5y ago

Thanks! I hadn't realized but Tierra and Avida are quite similar to SproutLife. I found this video that explains a bit about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouF8wKxXWFQ&t=1050s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouF8wKxXWFQ&t=1050s I wonder if they also encountered the issue where the genomes/programs get simpler over time. In some ways one would expect evolution to increase complexity, but what I found happening is that prioritizing reproduction means creating pressure to decrease complexity, thereby increasing the reproduction rate and decreasing the footprint for negative mutations. The way SproutLife counteracted this was to add a "competitive" metric where bigger organism win over smaller ones, kind of like big trees casting shade to block smaller shrubs.

tkt 5y ago
As it seems like you’re seeing, what evolves depends a lot on what you’re selecting for and the environment they’re ‘growing’ in. This is another paper with more details. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7123229/pdf/978-1-84628-214-0_Chapter_1.pdf https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7123229/pdf/978... My favorite stories are the ones where the organisms evolved to be able to detect when they were in the test environment and only performed the high-cost, selected-for behavior there.
- tkt 5y ago
  If you haven’t run across it yet, Karl Sims’ virtual creatures are also really fascinating. https://www.karlsims.com/evolved-virtual-creatures.html https://www.karlsims.com/evolved-virtual-creatures.html And anything by Melanie Mitchell. Her book “An Introduction to Genetic Algorithms” is great.