Scientists Seek the Key to Artificial Life

Posted 7 Aug 2008 at 16:37 UTC (updated 7 Aug 2008 at 21:05 UTC) by steve

A Telegraph.co.uk article, Can we make software that comes to life? covers the debate among biologists, computer scientists, physicists, mathematicians, philosophers and social scientists who have gathered in Winchester to discuss artificial life. After more than a decade of work, researchers think they've hit a barrier with what can be done with evolution within a software environment. The scientists think the problem is the lack the self-organizing principles in software that are part of the physical and chemical world where biological evolution occurs. The article notes that this self organization can be seen in something as simple as a saucer of oil that's heated. What's needed is a better understanding how self organization integrates with natural selection. The article also covers other aspects of artificial life research including both "wet" ALife (artificial biological life) and "in silico" ALife (software based life).