Re: evolution

On 1/16/07, Rui Al=E3o <[email protected]> wrote:
> I could build a creature that walked... And it walked in 2 feet, with 2
> "arms" up in the air... called it homo-erectus... but as soon as it evolv=
ed,
> it turned to an agonizing crawler stuff... Why do this happen? I mean,
> shouldn't it learn to walk even quicker? Now instead of the initial 4 lim=
bs,
> it has just 3... it seems that the 4th limb went inside of the other one.=
..

the forces that make the creatures work are nothing more than push and
pull, which means that sometimes the shapes can collapse if they are
given too much stress.  normally these die in the evolution, but
broken bodies appear quite often because there is such a drive to
improve performance that the evolved muscles start to take risks.
they are olympic runners breaking legs while running.

i've seen your homo-erectus creature and he's quite funny!  obviously
it was kind of a jumping spider until he broke a leg.  normally
breaking a leg is a big disadvantage but in this case it apparently
didn't make much difference.

Riu, i'm CCing this to the mailing list, and i think you should join
because you might find other people with experiences to share:

http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/fluidiom-code

> Well, the question is: what is evolution for the simulator? It seems that
> the evolution that that we expected to happen just goes some other way th=
at
> desfigures the initial creature... well, maybe this is the real evolution,
> cuz it's unpredictable, but isnt it frustrating too?

it's quite rare that an accident survives in competition with
creatures who did not have the accident, because they usually don't
walk as well.  things go wrong, but soon afterwards they are filtered
out of the population.  you have to look for the reason that that
didn't happen.  it's fascinating, not frustrating!  :)

> And sometimes the creature goes upside down, like an agonizing insect... =
how
> can I reverse it back to its feet?

it is sometimes possible by playing around with the physics carefully
to get it jumping crazy enough to tumble, and then you have to quickly
raise the damping to catch it in that position and then get the
physics back to normal.  tricky, but i've done it a few times.

>
> cheers
>
> Rui
>
> 2007/1/16, Gerald de Jong < [email protected]>:
> > Rui,
> >
> > it is really wonderful for me to hear from you, so thank you very much
> > for your message!  you may be surprised how many people look at my
> > work and never respond to it by getting in contact with me.
> >
> > even more interesting is your proposal to help me in some way or
> > other, because if you are a designer you might really be able to
> > improve the appearance of my project and website.
> >
> > i know that the design of the website is less than ideal, although i
> > am quite happy with some parts of it (like the logo).  please, if you
> > can find the time, show me an example of what it could become, or what
> > design ideas might improve the appearance of the site.  let your
> > creative ideas fly!
> >
> > thank you again for your kind words!  i look forward to seeing your
> > design suggestions.
> >
> > -Gerald
> >
> > On 1/16/07, Rui Al=E3o < [email protected]> wrote:
> > > Hi, Mr. Gerald
> > >
> > > My name is Rui Alao. I am a brazilian digital designer and university
> > > teacher and I just discovered your website and your work. I was amazed
> with
> > > the simulator and now I'm trying to build my first creature... Well, =
in
> fact
> > > I am writing just to thank you for your work. I am begining to study =
the
> > > "emergence of patterns in complex systems" as a masters degree and yo=
ur
> work
> > > was of great enlightenment to me.
> > >
> > > About the words you said in some of your podcast shows, I will
> recommend, if
> > > you allow me to, the reading of Stephen J. Gould. Well, maybe you have
> read
> > > him already, as a Darwin enthusiast as you are. I am reading John
> Holland
> > > and some other emergence researchers right now. Some weird ideas about
> > > emergence are begining to come to my mind from time to time...
> > >
> > > I just feel the obligation of giving you something back in exchange f=
or
> your
> > > work... As I dont have almost any money, I can just offer you my serv=
ice
> as
> > > a designer. If you ever need a new logo for D@H or a flash banner, or=
 a
> new
> > > CSS for you website, please, let me know.
> > >
> > > Cheers.
> > >
> > > --
> > > Rui Al=E3o
> >
> >
> > --
> > Gerald de Jong
> > [email protected]
> > http://www.darwinathome.org
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Rui Al=E3o


-- =

Gerald de Jong
[email protected]
http://www.darwinathome.org

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