Newsgroups: comp.ai.alife
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!bb3.andrew.cmu.edu!newsfeed.pitt.edu!scramble.lm.com!news.math.psu.edu!news.cse.psu.edu!uwm.edu!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in1.uu.net!news.thepoint.net!not-for-mail
From: myrddin@iosys.net (Myrddin Emrys)
Subject: Re: Reproduction
Message-ID: <319bf6d7.77584932@tisXnews.thepoint.net>
Date: Fri, 17 May 1996 05:02:11 GMT
References: <318F40AD.41C67EA6@gpsemi.com> <4msvu5$blv@pheidippides.axion.bt.co.uk> <Dr8rtK.J13.0.staffin.dcs.ed.ac.uk@dcs.ed.ac.uk>
Organization: SimBusiness
Reply-To: myrddin@iosys.net
X-Newsreader: Forte Agent .99e/32.227
Lines: 49

We intercepted this transmission from iic@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Ian Clarke):

          <Interesting article snipped for brevity>

:>I think a key point which makes Tierra type organisms
:>more likely to be created randomly is that the
:>instruction set is so small. This is a huge
:>limitation 'cos the evolution of the organism is
:>tied to the ways in which it can interact with the
:>environment in which it lives. The opcodes and the
:>executive that runs them constitutes that interaction
:>set and therefore the limits are set in such a
:>way that no amount of eveolution can increase the
:>interactions.

:If you want to increase the flexability of a program you
:do not need to increase the size of the instruction set,
:merely use lower-level instructions.

Hey, our code set comprises 4 instructions. :)

Actually, 4^3, but still quite small. But they are not even commands in the
sense of any current Alife program. All they are are instructions to build
proteans... and modifications of single instructions can mean entirely different
structures of a protean, with entirely different properties and purpose (if
any). It's daunting, the flexibility that 64 little opcodes can produce. (AFIK
not all 64 combinations are used) I would be interested to see an Alife
simulation that uses some method of indirection (wrong word, correct word can't
seem to come to me :), to better approximate the way Terrestrial life encodes
genetic information. Yet I'm wondering if there is any difference between a
single protean code (I'm just an Alife hobbyist... don't know the term for the
3-part code for a protean :) and a single bit in one of the many Alife
simulators.

Perhaps someone could explain what (if any) difference you see between 1 bit in
a simulations opcode, and 1 protean code on a DNA chain. The only difference I
see is that DNA operations are variable length (large and small proteans) and
most, if not all, simulations have fixed length codes. And whether that has any
significance on modeling evolution or life is debatable at best.

In summary, I've reversed my position 180 degrees from my original statement. :)
IMHO, a single 'command' in DNA is not a single AGC whatever, but a protean.
Under that assumption, Terrestrial life has billions, quadrillions of opcodes.

Myrddin Emrys, whos first (running & >100 lines) program was Anthill; written
between the ages 11 and 16, and modeled after an article in Scientific American
about a (more professional :) program by the same name.
--
Myrddin Emrys                                 mailto:myrddin@iosys.net

