Evolving Computational Creatures
"Even matter called inorganic, believed to be dead, responds to irritants and gives unmistakable evidence of a living principle within. Everything that exists, organic or inorganic, animated or inert, is susceptible to stimulus from the outside." - Nikola Tesla |
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| Topics Touched Today : The MovieClip as an Organism Combining MovieClips to Create Complexity Locomotion (code) Emergence The Neural Network Spring / Mass / Motor / Sensor System |
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| Properties of the Flash MovieClip are similar to a live organism. It can be seen. It ages. It moves. It allows interaction. It can be programmed with behaviors. It follows that the MovieClip is a good start for making digital creatures... |
 Folding Pentagons source |
| Simple examples of single MovieClip creatures | |||
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| So how is all this happening? Simple Encoded Instructions |
"We adore chaos because we love to produce order." - M. C. Escher |
Library of elements  |
All possible combinations  |
 Gathering Line source |
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Position, Velocity
 Diffusion Limited Aggregation source |
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Position, Angular Velocity
 Dividing Cells source |
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Walking
Creative movement through selective destination
 Walkers source |
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| Some Properties of Life: Permeable Membrane Growth and Reproduction A Will to Survive Movement Systems of Living Systems... |
"Machines take me by surprise with great frequency." - Alan Turing |
Creature exists in an environment and reacts to elements within that environment
Ants
source
"Generating complexity for complexity's sake is similar to shouting complete nonsense at the top of your voice. Both are embarrassments that are best avoided, but when you are young it is the best way to attract attention." - John Maeda |
Simple rule, repeated endlessly
Growth patterns resemble crystals, cities
Substrate (proce55ing)
On/Off cells arranged in rows
State of cell determined by previous state + states of neighbors
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Source
"In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them." - John von Neumann |
Growth not restricted to one dimensional space
Values of cells not restricted to binary
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| The human brain weighs about three pounds and is made of roughly 10 billion neurons, each neuron receiving connections from perhaps 100 other neurons and connecting upstream to still 100 more. |
Simple form, no feedback
Previous state of connected switches determine next state, by these rules:
If odd number of connected switches are On, switch On
If even number of connected switches are On, switch Off
Complex form with reentrant pathways
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 Binary Network Sound Machine Source |
The Male Wiring Project
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Self-similar objects, allowed to combine at will
Results in both 'good' and 'bad' configurations
Left long enough, with fitness criteria applied, the best possible legged swimmer will emerge
Legged Creatures
Source
Basic component objects
Allowed to combine at random
Production of unexpected, complex structures
Archaean Extremophiles
Source
"For every complex problem there is a simple solution that is wrong." - G.B. Shaw |
"I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything." - Nikola Tesla |
Web Sites
| Famous Curves Index http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Curves/Curves.html School of Mathematics and Statistics, U. of St Andrews, Scotland Mathematician Biographies http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/BiogIndex.html School of Mathematics and Statistics, U. of St Andrews, Scotland Spore IFS system http://www.imagesavant.com/ Dr. Richard Bailey Notable Properties of Specific Numbers http://home.earthlink.net/~mrob/pub/math/numbers.html Robert Munafo |
Easing Equations http://www.robertpenner.com/easing/ Robert Penner Levitated Daily Source http://www.levitated.net/daily/ Jared Tarbell Complexification Gallery of Computation http://www.complexification.net/gallery/ Jared Tarbell Reality Carnival http://www.realitycarnival.com Dr. Clifford Pickover |
Books
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Computers, Pattern, Chaos, and Beauty Clifford A. Pickover |
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Flash Math Creativity Tarbell, et al |
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The Fractal Geometry of Nature Benoit Mandelbrot |
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New Masters of Flash Vol. 3 Tarbell, et al |
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Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid Douglas Hofstadter |
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ActionScript: The Definitive Guide 2nd Edition Colin Moock ActionScript 2.0 Essentials Colin Moock |
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The Web of Life Fritjof Capra |
levitated.net/notes/ECC/