| "Once
a Darwinian process gets going in a world, it has an open-ended
power to generate surprising consequences: us, for example" Richard Dawkins, author of The Blind Watchmaker Richard Dawkins'
Biomorphs
Biomorph description:
Each biomorph has of a genome of 9 integers with possible values in the interval [-9,9]. The algorithm to draw these biomorphs is a recursive binary tree drawing algorithm which is influenced by the particular genes of the individual. For instance, Dawkins chose gene 9 to represent the depth of the tree and other genes exert similar influence over the drawing of the biomorph. The result is a huge set of possible biomorphs which can be quite interesting to play with. This applet is organized to allow easy surfing through biomorph space. The biomorph in the center of the screen is the parent and those surrounding it are its "offspring": copies which may have undergone very minor mutations. Selecting one of these offspring by clicking on it will make it the parent of the next generation and its mutated offspring will be shown. The selection in this model of evolution is the user who picks the next generation for purely aesthetic reasons. You could say that "fitness" is the degree to which the biomorph pleases the eye of the user. The "Random Monster" button at the bottom will create a parent with a random genome and show its offspring. Some biomorphs may resemble insects, microorganizms, and all kinds of interesting objects. Some of my cooked up creatures:
Dawkins' biomorphs were also presented in a paper at the first International
Conference on Artificial Life and have since been included in many
publications on evolution and life. I have done everything possible
to make this implementation exactly like his original 9-gene implementation.
NEWS regarding these Biomorphs: 7/01/2002 6/25/98 My current To Do list...
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