Evolving Computer Programs (Earth, evolution)

[Jaiket]

Has anyone read anything about evolving algorithms?

I came across a little passage in Graham Bell's The Basics of Selection about a prof. at Delaware Uni who designed little self-replicating programs of 80 instructions. Basically pre-designed to replicate slightly inaccurately they started to mutate, and through time many different variants arose that replicated differently. Some where parasitic and some hyperparasitic (fooled the parasites into copying themselves and not the parasites) while some could only replicate in groups by habituating adjacent space on the memory etc etc.

Reading it made my day (odd, I know).

[No*s]

There's a program you can get at http://www.sf.net called Avida. It's designed to replicate evolution. I've been meaning to tinker with it, but haven't haven't yet.

[Feathers in Hair]

I know some other members are fans of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. In it, there's a University of Magic, and some of the younger students have... assembled something known as Hex. (Which would seem to be a computer for those of us in less flat realities.) It's refuses to work without the small gray mouse that has nested in it, for whatever reason, has demanded a sheep's skull (RAM) and similiar objects.

This is what this program reminds me of. Very interesting!

[painted wolf]

I have an old Super Nintendo sim game called SimEarth.... You design a planet and if the situation is right you can get 'life' and watch it evolve from single celled blobs to inteligent life. They mutate and create 'species' and so on.
The only problem is that it took forever to play and didn't have a 'save' function... so I would just leave it running for days at a time.
I'd start it up then go to school, come back and go "wow! I got life!"
Leave it running for the night, if I was lucky when I woke up I'd have fish...

come to think of it, it was a pretty boring game

I'll have to check out Avida, it can't be nearly as boring.

wa:do

[Feathers in Hair]

PW, never, ever play a game called "The Sims".

It's possibly the only thing more addictive than SimEarth, and (unless otherwise instructed) the people have free will.

The last time I dared look in on 'my family', the elf had set fire to the stove, the dwarf was dating a supermodel, and the hobbits had adopted, now on to having grandchildren, and were all jealously slapping each other silly.

My blade that once was broken and has been remade (Aragorn) likes the candy-maker, though.