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Does a long life really inhibit evolution? In episode 139 and 142, I talked about some results I’ve been getting with my experiment with artificial life and digital organisms. I had to rework the death object to make sure that one of the little critters would die and make room for others. But does an …
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Emergent self-replicating software from my experiments In the previous episode, I provided a description of “Amoeba.” In this episode I use “Figures,” which is my own experiment with digital organisms and artificial life, to repeat the results of Andy Pargellis’s Amoeba experiment, with a few differences. I also give the most detailed explanation of my …
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Emergent self-replication with Amoeba Did life come from chaos? If it did, could you get artificial life to do the same thing? As I’m repeating the experiment, with some difference, I thought I’d talk about Amoeba—an artificial life simulation that caused self-replicating bits of software to emerge from randomly generated code. I provide a general …
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A closer look at results from ep 139 In episode 139, I talked about unexpected results from my experiment with artificial life and digital organisms. There was a tiny bit of evolution happening with a very tiny population. Today, we take a closer look at what the system was doing. Here are links to previous …
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The largest of the small Not every single-celled life form is microscopic. Some of them can be seen with the naked eye. Some of them are, at least compared to other single-celled creatures, downright gigantic. Here’s an article about the large amoeba that was found on the bottom of the ocean. Giant single celled organisms …
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An exception to the rules of biology As soon as you’ve defined something like Eukaryotes, some exception crops up, and you have to redefine a classification of life. Today, we look at one or two such exceptions, including an animal that doesn’t use oxygen. Here are links to the episodes referenced in today’s “exciting” episode. …
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de facto fitness functions and unexpected early evolution When people talk about their artificial life computer simulations, they often say that there is no fitness function—no bit of code that decides which bit of software lives, dies, or reproduces. Even if it isn’t happening on purpose, the design of the overall system can still cause …
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Figures0.2 While researching for these episodes, I’ve also been researching for other reasons, including the experiment which I talk about today. It’s my attempt to use artificial life for artificial intelligence. Here’s a link to episode 103, which describes Tiera, and gives a good overview of digital organisms and artificial life. Tierra, bits bytes and …
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What a blind man sees in his dreams @seeingwithsound asked me if my lucid dreams are visual, and if so, how vivid or realistic are the experiences. The answer is somewhat interesting, so I went ahead and made an episode out of it. Here’s a link to the website of the vOICe—a sensory substitution device. …
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Wake induced lucid dreams This is the last episode on lucid dreaming and out of body experiences. Today we talk about wake induced lucid dreams, abbreviated “WILD.” The goal is to move directly from a waking state, into a lucid dream—a dream during which you realize that you are dreaming. I’m not as familiar with …