Artificial Life A look at Cellular Automata Introduction

Artificial Life A look at Cellular Automata

Introduction l What is Artificial Life? l Emergence Property l General Life Properties – reproduction – adaptation – independent actions l Creating Life by Rules

Artificial Life l Non-organic Organisms l Life-like Behavior

Emergence More than just the sum of its parts l Cells in the brain l Cell interaction – Deterministic l Cell alone – Is just a cell l Cells working together – Enable these cells to exhibit complex behaviors

Cellular Automata l Father of Cellular Automata – John von Neuman • Aim self reproduction l What is Cellular Automata? – Arrays of cells – Interactions with neighbors

Cellular Automata (cont. ) l Natural cells work in a similar manner than cellular automata – Simpler than natural cells – Mimic behavior patterns l Most famous example – Conway’s Life – Based on von. Neuman’s theories

Game of Life l Two-Dimensional Grid l Rules – Can die of isolation – Can die of overcrowding – Dead cell can be resurrected with three living neighbors – All other cells remain the same l All rules applied to cells simultaneously

Game of Life (cont. ) l Stable System – Blinkers – If left undisturbed, will run forever l Unstable systems – Don’t last long l Complex States – Gliders – Don’t stay still or die out

Future Practical Uses of Artificial Life l In the future, neural networks can be used in conjunction with Artificial life to create. . . l Entertainment – Better opponents for computer games – Generating music from the patterns

Future Practical Uses of Artificial Life l Information (Autonomous) Agents – Retrieving information – Creating links with weights – Send out agents in groups – Agents link to each other – Self-organizing

Misuse of Artificial Life l Viruses – Is it alive? – Can mutate l War – Take people out of combat – Use cyberspace creatures to fight our wars

Conclusion l How does Alife relate to AI? – Rule based – Search algorithms