Darwinbots as a Graduate Study

[Numsgil]

Well, the time has come for me to look around at graduate schools, and figure out what the hell I want to study.  The idea occurs that I could study Darwinbots!  Wouldn't that be neat.  All this time wouldn't be wasted after all.

Here's what I now know:

1.  Aparently AL is in the larger field called Informatics.

2.  There is apparently a very good school that actually has an Artifical Life MSc you can earn (AL is still such a virgin science it hardly has any schools) in Sussex.

That's all.  Just sharing what I've been thinking recently.

[shvarz]

AL is a field apart.  They don't intersect that much with other sciences, which is a real shame.  If you ever get there - make sure you hook up with some real biologists :)

[Numsgil]

AL is a fascinating field in that it directly pulls from probably the most diverse sciences imaginable.  It's almost the study of everything.

[shvarz]

In theory - yes.  On practice - no.  I talked to a guy who did his graduate work in some big AL lab.  They publish in their own journals (which no one else reads), they know very little of real biology and they interact very little with scientists who do real work.

[Endy]

That's kind of sad :sad2:

Not sure, since my own experience is [you]very[/you] limited here, but perhaps something in Bioinformatics/Systems Biology would be about what your looking for.

[PurpleYouko]

Do you mean Sussex in England? or is there a Sussex over here in the US that I have never heard of?

[Numsgil]

UK sussex.  Website is: sussex.ac.uk.  They offer ana actual MSc degree in adaptive systems.

Yes, AL gets alot of grit for being a "factless science" at times.  If the larger scientific community would just come to recognize the power of AL...

[PurpleYouko]

One of the nicest area of England. Right near to Gatwick airport (better than Heathrow IMO) and only about 30-40 miles to the coast.

Sounds like fun.

I wouldn't want to live there though. Don't like England.  <_<

[Numsgil]

In the end it will be money.  My GPA is going to end up right around 3.0-3.1, so on paper I don't stand out as an outstanding student.  Which makes getting money on the verge of difficult.

[Botsareus]

Yes, AL gets alot of grit for being a "factless science" at times.

Thats because half the stuff out there has no relation to anything applicable. For example, Darwinpond: Some people say yes its a nice simulator, nice design blabla.

But who the hell can apply a bunch of wiggaly tale swimmers with predifined moution and suddenly grow new tales on the spot.  Lol will that be a sybornatic lifeform with genetics only to grow tails and the rest is machanics from the 19th century?

On the other hand, DB can applyed to a lot of things, from micro-orginisms to space science. Imagine what will happen when Numjil takes it to the next level with graduate work?


I was planning to to graduate work myself , with ai , not al. So YEA NUM GO FOR IT DUDE. YOU GOING TO PUT DB ON THE MAP!  :clap:  (that makes me wonder: how do you get a graduate study position? you say: "In the end it will be money. My GPA is going to end up right around 3.0-3.1, so on paper I don't stand out as an outstanding student. Which makes getting money on the verge of difficult." Does that mean I have to pay some one? I have to pay for a computer lab right?

one more thing: GRADUATE WORK OWNS! You get payed for studying what ever the heck you want. Its great!  :rolleyes:


I mean for one , I really like this idea because vb! is going to be used in gradute work. I mean it will actualy be a programing languge I can comprehand , will be great!

[shvarz]

one more thing: GRADUATE WORK OWNS! You get payed for studying what ever the heck you want. Its great!

I assume you are not talking from personal experience :)  So let me share mine.  Being a grad student is hell (or pretty close to it).  You  have no rights and have to work very long hours for a very small pay and your whole life depends on your adviser.  Choose poorly and you essentially become a slave.

Nums, if you go studying AL and decide that you want to try to model something more related to real life than a bunch of dots on screen - come talk to me.  We can try modeling replication of HIV in a human body :)  Whoo-hoo, that's a real challenge! :)

[Numsgil]

The way graduate studies work, is they generally charge you tuition.  If you go the route of doing it all in one year, you have to pay alot of money.  If you do it part-time, and teach for the university, you can usually get it to be affordable.

But in the end grant money, if I understand right, is what makes or breaks alot of research, graduate or otherwise.
Oh, didn't I say?  I'm totally converting DB into VC++.net

[Numsgil]

Nums, if you go studying AL and decide that you want to try to model something more related to real life than a bunch of dots on screen - come talk to me.  We can try modeling replication of HIV in a human body :)  Whoo-hoo, that's a real challenge! :)

I was thinking I'd want to study the evolution of single celled, autonomous but related organisms into multicelluar life forms.  Seems really interesting to me.  Plus, it has like no real relationship with anything applicable!

[Botsareus]

Shvartz, I was thinking I can get lucky with my graduate work somewere and actualy Injoy it, I never sayed It was anything more then just dreams...

VC++.net

hmmm... well, I can see the advantage in turms of speed and program size and flexibility.

But .net is the pain of all object orinated programing ex: lets say you want to paint a point on the screen: vb: "pset(x,y)"  vb.net:(gessing):  

"include.formobject
 include.directx
Formobjectlibrary.formobject.directxlibrary.paintbuffer.paint.point(x,y)"

 although not the exact sintex , but this kind of things are common in .net that why I dont waste time on it, not yet anyway.

model something more related to real life than a bunch of dots on screen -

well shvartz, thats the direction we are heading with DB anyway... (I can assure you its no longer "dots on screen", although we are still not particulary close to any really realistic modeling or practical uses.)

Plus, it has like no real relationship with anything applicable!

like hell I can see this being applicable Num, all the way from complex systems design (design a prefict body to behave in a sertain inviroment) , to self generating robotics. (we can have the matrix done in real life (I actualy set up a rugh model for this once without any real technical background) seems really possible) If you model organic stuff, the applicability in medicine can be great.

[Numsgil]

darn, then I'll have to pick something more obscure... :P

In a related note, I found a nasty and disgusting bug in 2.4 that means a major overhall (yet again) in how bots see.

Damn.