As discussed in this article in New Scientist,
researchers used Avita to create populations of identical “digital organisms” that initially were incapable of solving logical problems. But with each replication, there was a 20 per cent chance of a random mutation in “offspring.” This mutation altered the nature of the digital organism and in some cases resulted in one that could perform a logical operation. After 15,000 generations, the researchers found it was impossible for a population of digital organisms to solve the most difficult logic problems if that was all that the computer rewarded. But the outcome changed dramatically if the digital organisms lived in environments that would also reward them if they performed some simpler functions. In that case, the evolving programs were able to bridge the gap and eventually solve even the most complex logic problems.
“Our work allowed us to see how the most complex functions are built up from simpler and simpler functions,” says Lenski. Added his collegue Charles Ofria, “One of the beautiful aspects of this work is that it allows us to better understand how nature overcomes difficulties inherent in solving complex problems. We can then apply these concepts when trying to decide how best to solve computational problems we are faced with.”
” “We also saw that some mutations looked like bad events when they happened, but turned out to be really important for the evolution of the population over a long period of time.” ” Did they say whether these changes were for the better?
I like coming to this site as they usually have some interesting science/technology stuff… but this is just mirroring news more than two years old for not reason other than that it was posted on slashdot.
Don’t do this. It’s annoying enough to see basically the same fresh news stories on three or four different new aggregators, but to see outdated stuff like this getting passed around…
I totally agree that the emphasis of this site should be off-the-beaten-track science stories that are significant and would otherwise fall thru the cracks. I will do my best to find them and write them up. However, every now and then I go on a binge of tracking and following the news stories of the day in an attempt to get picked up by Google News. Yesterday was such a day, with stories on Alife, jellyfish and Aretinas – ALL THREE OF WHICH were successfully picked up by Google News and resulted in literally THOUSANDS of new people coming to this site yesterday that otherwise would not have come. I believe this occasional tactic has GOT to be a part of the SFT / Sciscoop strategy to Grow The Site. We picked up some new members yesterday because I went on a Google News Binge and that’s a Good Thing.
Speaking of new members – great comment, we need many more like it, I’d like to see YOU become a member…
Here I am. Don’t expect great things from me. I read more than I write.