> how this evolution mirrors a simulated annealing algorithm how this behaviour forms species. Before we did the full-on evolutionary stuff, I was fiddling wit

> how this evolution mirrors a simulated annealing algorithm how this behaviour forms species. Before we did the full-on evolutionary stuff, I was fiddling with simulated annealing. There's definitely a connection. It's all a subset of global optimization really. What makes evolution so fascinating is how it seems (at least in real life) to be able to direct its own path towards interesting solutions to particular problems. It's sort of like this mad genius, who keeps shouting brilliant things at you, but never listens. So you can never ask him a question -- you just have to set things up so he'll want to find an answer to the question you wish you could ask.