%0 Conference Paper %1 yaeger-computational-genetics-physiology-1993 %A Yaeger, Larry %B Artificial Life III, Vol. XVII of SFI Studies in the Sciences of Complexity, Santa Fe Institute %C Los Alamos, New Mexico %D 1993 %E Langton, Christopher G. %I Addison-Wesley %K alife genetic network neural polyworld programming %P 263--298 %T Computational genetics, physiology, metabolism, neural systems, learning, vision, and behavior or PolyWorld: Life in a new context %U http://www.beanblossom.in.us/larryy/polyworld.html %X This paper discusses a computer model of living organisms and the ecology they exist in called PolyWorld. PolyWorld attempts to bring together all the principle components of real living systems into a single artificial (man-made) living system. PolyWorld brings together biologically motivated genetics, simple simulated physiologies and metabolisms, Hebbian learning in arbitrary neural network architectures, a visual perceptive mechanism, and a suite of primitive behaviors in artificial organisms grounded in an ecology just complex enough to foster speciation and inter-species competition. Predation, mimicry, sexual reproduction, and even communication are all supported in a straightforward fashion. The resulting survival strategies, both individual and group, are purely emergent, as are the functionalities embodied in their neural network &\#034;brains&\#034;. Complex behaviors resulting from the simulated neural activity are unpredictable, and change as natural selection acts over multiple generations. In many ways, PolyWorld may be thought of as a sort of electronic primordial soup experiment, in the vein of Urey and Miller&\#039;s 33 classic experiment, only commencing at a much higher level of organization. While one could claim that Urey and Miller really just threw a bunch of ingredients in a pot and watched to see what happened, the reason these men made a contribution to science rather than ratatouille is that they put the right ingredients in the right pot ... and watched to see what happened. Here we start with software-coded genetics and various simple nerve cells (lightsensitive, motor, and unspecified neuronal) as the ingredients, and place them in a competitive ecological crucible which subjects them to an internally consistent physics and the process of natural selectio...

@inproceedings{yaeger-computational-genetics-physiology-1993, abstract = {This paper discusses a computer model of living organisms and the ecology they exist in called PolyWorld. PolyWorld attempts to bring together all the principle components of real living systems into a single artificial (man-made) living system. PolyWorld brings together biologically motivated genetics, simple simulated physiologies and metabolisms, Hebbian learning in arbitrary neural network architectures, a visual perceptive mechanism, and a suite of primitive behaviors in artificial organisms grounded in an ecology just complex enough to foster speciation and inter-species competition. Predation, mimicry, sexual reproduction, and even communication are all supported in a straightforward fashion. The resulting survival strategies, both individual and group, are purely emergent, as are the functionalities embodied in their neural network \&\#034;brains\&\#034;. Complex behaviors resulting from the simulated neural activity are unpredictable, and change as natural selection acts over multiple generations. In many ways, PolyWorld may be thought of as a sort of electronic primordial soup experiment, in the vein of Urey and Miller\&\#039;s [33] classic experiment, only commencing at a much higher level of organization. While one could claim that Urey and Miller really just threw a bunch of ingredients in a pot and watched to see what happened, the reason these men made a contribution to science rather than ratatouille is that they put the right ingredients in the right pot ... and watched to see what happened. Here we start with software-coded genetics and various simple nerve cells (lightsensitive, motor, and unspecified neuronal) as the ingredients, and place them in a competitive ecological crucible which subjects them to an internally consistent physics and the process of natural selectio...}, added-at = {2010-06-28T22:08:03.000+0200}, address = {Los Alamos, New Mexico}, author = {Yaeger, Larry}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2f1a76fac908ebc00df24d905d0814f3d/mhwombat}, booktitle = {Artificial Life III, Vol. XVII of SFI Studies in the Sciences of Complexity, Santa Fe Institute}, citeulike-article-id = {6678071}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://www.beanblossom.in.us/larryy/polyworld.html}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.38.6719}, editor = {Langton, Christopher G.}, file = {:/wombat/taighde/docs/cogsci/Yaeger.ALife3.pdf:PDF;:Yaeger.ALife3.pdf:PDF}, groups = {public}, interhash = {40cb01579310a8f98723170cffb1ae76}, intrahash = {f1a76fac908ebc00df24d905d0814f3d}, keywords = {alife genetic network neural polyworld programming}, pages = {263--298}, posted-at = {2010-06-28 00:18:12}, priority = {2}, publisher = {Addison-Wesley}, timestamp = {2016-07-12T19:25:30.000+0200}, title = {Computational genetics, physiology, metabolism, neural systems, learning, vision, and behavior or PolyWorld: Life in a new context}, url = {http://www.beanblossom.in.us/larryy/polyworld.html}, username = {mhwombat}, year = 1993 }