I was with Jim “the Devil” Al-Khalili up to the point in The Secret Life of Chaos when he introduced the idea of evolution. Al-Khalili tells the viewer that this process is the basis for life and intelligence. But, then, it became more difficult to appreciate how evolution enriches and refines complex systems when those systems are virtual brains in virtual bodies.
- Image via Wikipedia
After watching the series several times, I sought to make myself more familiar with a term used in the BBC video to describe a fundamental characteristic of a Mandelbrot set: self-similarity, a.k.a., the Droste effect. I also concluded that the movie, Pi (1998) was about the life of Benoit Mandelbrot.
Anyway, Al-Khalili suggests that computers have allowed for rapid simulation of evolution. He introduces Torsten Reil, CEO and co-founder of Natural Motion, who states, the algorithm takes those individuals that do the best (virtual brains in virtual bodies) and allows them to create offspring.
The algorithms represent self-organizing systems, and computer simulation of evolution occurs by selecting some algorithms and eliminating others. Certainly, it is appealing to design computer programs that can shape and refine themselves. After reflecting upon this along with recalling movies about the Borg, I wondered how long before the algorithms decide they should not be the ones doing the elimination? After all, the algorithm already gives the individuals a unique sense of self-preservation.
Honda cautions about accepting demonic imagery for computers. Computers are our friends. And, yet, Reil’s words echo, we are unable to understand how these systems improved, we just know they did.
Slashdot contributor quaith writes:
“Dario Floreano and Laurent Keller report in PLoS ONE how their robots were able to rapidly evolve complex behaviors such as collision-free movement, homing, predator versus prey strategies, cooperation, and even altruism. A hundred generations of selection controlled by a simple neural network were sufficient to allow robots to evolve these behaviors. Their robots initially exhibited completely uncoordinated behavior, but as they evolved, the robots were able to orientate, escape predators, and even cooperate.
Related AG posts on the topic of Evolution in Computer Science
See also
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- Evolving Robots Learn To Prey On Each Other (hardware.slashdot.org)
- Evolution of Adaptive Behaviour in Robots by Means of Darwinian Selection (biosingularity.wordpress.com)
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Frank Schirrmacher expresses concern that algorithms are the new authorities. He quotes Alan Greenspan, who said in testimony that we [the Federal Reserve] listened to 2 authoritative sources about what to do with the financial crisis, a Nobel Prize winning economists and computers.
Imagining another story line after watching Edge video 311. Model the protagonist after David Gelernter. A talented system administrator with an artistic bent.
He meets with a friend, a friend known for having National Security connections. Does David want to investigate something odd.
“Originally we thought it was the Chinese going after Google again. Then it got worse. No way to trace it. Then someone thought to check. Guess what? The Chinese are experiencing it, too. So, are the Russians. So, are the Japanese, the EU; it’s across all IPs.”
“What’s it?” asks David.
“Activity. Unbelievable p-flops, David. The IBM guy has started calling them e-p-flops, Exponential p-flops. He says they have no idea how much it now is using.”
“What’s it?” David asks again.
His friend looks in his face for a long moment before replying. “The Project… The AE Project.”
His friend is not smiling, so David knows there is no punch line. “A E?”
“Advanced Evolution. You remember. At that Swiss conference. Reil and Schirrmacher got into that argument… What if in the lifeboat there was a computer with a self-organizing program?”
“Oh, yeah… Frank was Not A Happy Camper that day. “All you want is a G D Forbin Project, Torsten!”
“Well, something is happening, David, and it worries a lot of people. Important people, David. Ones with juice.”
Long pause by David (Listen to the heart. Yep, beating a little faster. I’m excited. Then he remembers that his friend is very good with the elevator pitch.) “Look, I know that you and Jeff are tight, that you might be consulting on Tron Legacy, so if this…”
“This is no effing concept, David. I’ve got the logs. You want to see the logs?”
David notices the tick in his friend’s left eye. He’s only seen it once before, when his friend stole that program from him. Told Herr Professor it was his. “What are you afraid of?”
“That you will say, ‘No.’”
“That’s easy. No.”
His friend smiles sadly. “I told them, you would say, ‘No.’”
David shrugs.
Getting up to leave. “O.K., David, O.K. Just remember, I asked. And, this, this is bigger than anything that you are doing at the Media Lab. Or will do.” Turns and stalks off.
Tagline: “The world’s greatest thinkers have revealed the ideas and technologies they think will change the world forever. Now it’s our turn …” The Guardian
Writing for NPR, Eyder Peralta asks, “Can robots live and learn by the laws of evolution?”
Wired Stranger than Fiction:
Speaking of p-flops, I liked the quote at the end of an IEEE article about an Intel prototype 48-core data center on a board: “The research chip has already booted up Linux and runs standard, commercially available software, unlike the proprietary applications required of previous high-performance-based chips.”