PLAZZMID: Evolutionary algorithms from bacterial and bee genomes
Lead Research Organisation:
University of York
Department Name: Computer Science
Abstract
Classical evolutionary algorithms have been extremely successful at solving certain problems. But they implement a very simple model of evolutionary biology that misses out several aspects that might be exploited by more sophisticated algorithms. We have previously critiqued the traditional naive approach to bio-inspired algorithm design, that moves straight from a simplistic description of the biology into some algorithm. PLAZZMID uses a more sophisticated process for developing richer evolutionary algorithms abstracted from various processes of biological evolution, with a corresponding richer analogical computational structure. The PLAZZMID approach will be used to explore questions from theoretical evolutionary biology, and to solve dynamic computational problems, such as evolving for homeostasis in a variable environment.
Organisations
Publications
Adam Nellis
(2011)
Embodied copying for richer evolution
in ECAL 2011, Paris, France, August 2011
Clark EB
(2017)
Semantic closure demonstrated by the evolution of a universal constructor architecture in an artificial chemistry.
in Journal of the Royal Society, Interface
Droop Alastair P.
(2011)
Properties of Biological Mutation Networks and Their Implications for ALife
in ARTIFICIAL LIFE
Edward Clark
(2011)
Degeneracy Enriches Artificial Chemistry Binding Systems
in ECAL 2011, Paris, France, August 2011
Hickinbotham S
(2016)
Maximizing the Adjacent Possible in Automata Chemistries.
in Artificial life
Hickinbotham S
(2011)
Advances in Artificial Life. Darwin Meets von Neumann
Hickinbotham SJ
(2021)
Nothing in evolution makes sense except in the light of parasitism: evolution of complex replication strategies.
in Royal Society open science
Nellis A.
(2010)
Automatically moving between levels in artificial chemistries
in Artificial Life XII: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems, ALIFE 2010
Simon Hickinbotham
(2012)
Specification of the stringmol chemical programming language version 0.2
| Description | The project developed the novel Artificial Chemistry stringmol, a form of assembly language AChem. It exploited it in several scenarios to uncover the crucial importance of several properties needed by an AChem to produce a rich complex system of reactions. In particular, systems seeded with imperfect replicators exhibited several evolutionary properties shared by biological organisms. |
| Exploitation Route | A detailed specification of the AChem is provided in a Technical Report, allowing others to experiment with the same system. Additionally a web-based version is available. The stringmol system has subsequently been used as a research tool in an EU-funded project, EvoEvo |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education |