Lecture 4 - Artificial Life

Question 1

What does Artificial Life (AL) study? Why?

Answer 1

Models and simulations of living entities and complex systems to understand the origin and functionality of life.

Question 2

What do AL researchers construct?
What should the constructions be able to do?

+ 3 examples

Answer 2

(1) Multi-agent systems that have the capacity for (2) growth, metabolism, reproduction and response to stimuli.
ex. :
1. Market economies
2. Traffic
3. Immune system

Question 3

Two adaptive processes for organisms + characteristics (2 each)

Answer 3

1. Evolution
   - slow
   - progresses through new generations of individuals
2. Learning
   - fast
   - done within a single individual

Question 4

Baldwin effect
-> how do individuals learn

BUT

Answer 4

Individuals learn by interacting with the environment, which increases their fitness and the probability to reproduce.
-> Efficient learning = higher fitness = more kids

BUT
While the ability to learn is passed on to children, the learned knowledge is not.

Question 5

Lamarckian learning

Answer 5

Individual learns during his/her life and immediately copies the obtained knowledge to its offspring

Question 6

Cellular Automata (CA)
What is it (for)?
2 Components

Answer 6

Discrete models with which biological, social, physical processes can be simulated

1. cellular space
2. transition rule

Question 7

What do ecosystems consist of?

What do they do (3)?

Answer 7

Individuals (agents), that…

1. Occupy a position in the environment
2. Interact with environment and other agents
3. Possess an internal state (money, energy)

Question 8

Chaos Theory

Answer 8

In some dynamical systems a small change in the initial conditions causes very different behaviors in the future. This kind of systems follow chaotic (seeming) behavior.
-> meteorologist

Question 9

Fractals

Answer 9

Patterns that resemble their subpatterns