Messages

1

Evolution and Internet Sharing Sims / Different means of reproduction

« on: October 18, 2008, 01:39:10 PM »

Well, my findings

For reproducing.
Storing random values in random memory locations.
Storing a value in random memory loactions.

I've not seen a solid value into just .repro. I've seen it with shoot. Maybe the bots in my sim have more to win by contineling storing something in shoot then something in .repro.

I think it's because it's pretty easy to write something in .shoot, as it's number is small. The largest number used in evolution simulation I have seen were 56 - and .repro is under 300.

2

Evolution and Internet Sharing Sims / Different means of reproduction

« on: October 18, 2008, 12:21:26 PM »

It just hit me when observing my first zerobot simulation... The standard means of reproducing a bot would require something like that:

Code: [Select]

50 .repro store
Of course with proper condition, because we don't want our bot self-destruct. What is the chance of something like that evolving in zerobot simulation? Given the fact that storing something in .repro requires having a 300 next to store, they are pretty small. There are, of course, many more possible combinations, for example:

Code: [Select]

15 20 15 mult store
Or even:

Code: [Select]

46 0 0 dist store
(which requires the bot to be in a certain circle to properly reproduce)

Well, it's certainly easier to evolve, but it doesn't look very stable. The longer is the code, the less stable should it be...

So my question is: how do your evolved bots reproduce? How do they manage to give their offspring enough energy to survive and not to kill themselves during the process? Do they use .sexrepro or .mrepro? And how stable are they?

3

Newbie / Gene structure

« on: October 13, 2008, 03:24:00 PM »

From what I managed to look up on DB Wiki, a gene looks like that:

Code: [Select]

cond
(a condition to activate)
start
(instructions)
stop
But it seems that mutations tend to break this structure very often. For example "cond" is changed into another flow command. It does not seem to disable the entire gene every time it breaks its structure. Sometimes an instruction is ejected outside the gene and stays there.

My questions:

1. Why is there a "stop" command? Changing it doesn't seem to have a great influence on a particular gene.
2. Does the code outside a gene do something?

4

Newbie / How did you find DarwinBots?

« on: September 13, 2008, 08:17:27 AM »

Wikipedia. I searched for some evolution simulators.

5

Simulation Emporium / Ways to increase natural selection?

« on: September 11, 2008, 10:08:11 AM »

Attempting to create a stable, mature, multi-species evo-sim using hand-coded bots as a starting point is the very definition of intelligent design and creationism. It should not be surprising that it doesn't work. Complex eco-systems are the end result of long long long periods of evolution and co-evolution. It extremely difficult if not impossible to create something sophisticated and balanced like this out of thin air using authored organisms.

Well, I don't hope for creating a stable ecosystem with hand-coded bots. I just would like to know what can I do in case of massive dying out of the entire ecosystem. Or an interesting "species". It seems that in many cases, when an organism gains a lucky mutation, it begins to drive out its competition before it has any chance to react in any way. I don't know what to do in such cases.

6

Simulation Emporium / Ways to increase natural selection?

« on: September 10, 2008, 03:32:21 PM »

FYI, I will likely automate species forking in a coming version.

That would be a great idea.

One common way is simply not to eat (or not to be very effective at eating) heterotrophs at all. There is no need for conspec recognition at all in a population of asexually reproducing herbivores. All that is necessary is autotroph recognition and even then, it need not be explicit. It could be as simple as just being a really really bad feeder when it comes to feeding upon others of similar genomes. You may try to shoot or tie feed off your offspring or parents, but because you are so ineffective at it (they have slime or shell or similar) at least when you try it against others of similar genomes, the only things you end up really feeding off of are dumb plants.

Sounds good. It's just hard to do this, when the population begin to die out too fast. I tried divine interventions, but there were not much I could do. And the plants doesn't have any chance to evolve into something really useful, as they doesn't have to with their veggie state.

Perhaps it would help if there vere a command to turn off/on veggie state in the organism? It would require a gene to harness energy from the background. Having it as an option seems to reduce the plants' potential.

7

Simulation Emporium / Ways to increase natural selection?

« on: September 09, 2008, 04:34:23 PM »

Thanks for the welcome

Nope. I used the sun model. I have seen cancerous algae only once. It's animal minimalis which become cancerous very often (which make me furious).

I certainly would like to know how to do a stable simulation... Even with two species the plants usually live only because of forced respawn...

8

Simulation Emporium / Ways to increase natural selection?

« on: September 09, 2008, 01:28:58 PM »

It seems that having more than two species increases natural selection.

My first simulation had somewhat mean algae (veggies, which tried to eat everything approaching), modified animal minimalis (eating body instead of energy, and growing) and a parasite. Improvement of this third species was my goal.

First I made it to attach to an organism which was turned back. Well... it weren't very successful, but a random mutation made it effective at least against the algae. Swirling in one place seemed to be a better strategy somehow, as it allowed to use the host as a morgenstern. I kept the mutated version, as it was clearly better than the original one. It still couldn't do much against animal minimalis, until I added a calming venom. It allowed to spray any organism in front of the parasite, making it not to attack this species.

Then the thing gone interesting. One particular mutation I remember was making the parasite attach not only to one organism, but virtually to anything, including their own siblings. They still sucked energy from the last organism they were attached to. A poor alga or animal minimalis couldn't do anything, as they were tied by multiple parasites. This net (or rather glue) made them unable to do almost anything. Veggies still could harness energy from the sun, but tied predators were doomed.

Then animal minimalis changed. They evolved into cannibots. Holding glue became a nice source of food for a short time, and they still could eat plants. Their reproduction slowed somewhat, but it were not a problem, as I somewhat castrated them earlier (in other simulations they were annoying me with rapid growth, so I culled their reproduction to 50 specimens). Parasites were in peril again.

Unfortunately, it was not a stable ecosystem. When I were in the kitchen, the plants somewhat eliminated everything. I still don't know how they did it...