Date: Sun, 05 Jul 92 19:58:36 IST From: Emanuel Subject: Contribution-1 To: alsyll@lotka.Stanford.EDU AL Syllabus: Brainstorming Session June/18/1992 ----------------------------------------------- The following are the items noted down at the meeting of the "Artificial Life Syllabus Group", which took place in the park of the Plaza of Santa-Fe, on June/18/1992. I composed them as a note, both in order to have a neater list than the pages we photo copied at Santa-Fe, and for the benefit of the "new-comers". ------------------------------------------------------------ Introduction * History, Philosophy, Moral questions | Emergence | Biology - Darwin, Lamark ----------------*------------------------------------------- Tools | Genetic Algorithms, Genetic programming | Formal Grammar | Cellular Automata | Artificial Neural Networks ----------------*------------------------------------------- Phenomena | Origin of Life, Self Replication | Metabolism | Morphogensis | Evolution, Learning/Cognition | Complexity | Social Interaction ----------------*------------------------------------------- Models | Simple Models (such as in Computer and | Recreations of the Scientific American) Simulators | Predator-Prey | Viruses, Core War, BUGS | L-systems | TIERRA | Vehicles | CA-lab | SIM/LIFE ----------------*------------------------------------------- Robotics | Robot systems | Nano technology | Subsumption Architecture ----------------*------------------------------------------- Humans | Human Beings "A system approach" and | Are we individuals or populations Organizations | Intelligence | Modelling of higher level organism with | anticipatory behavior (foresight, | expectations, etc... ) | Basic Framework currently used in | economics & Game Theory ----------------------------------------------------------- We have to amend this list. Then to select the proper subject in each category, the relevant topics in each category, and the best articles/books/chapters for each topic. Regards, Emanuel *--------------------------------------------------------------------* * Emanuel Gruengard, Departement of Mathematics and Computer Science * * Bar-Ilan University, Bar-Ilan Campus, 52900 Ramat-Gan, Israel * *--------------------------------------------------------------------* Date: Sun, 05 Jul 92 20:04:19 IST From: Emanuel Subject: Contribution-2 To: alsyll@lotka.Stanford.EDU Outlines of a Seminar in Artificial Life --------------------------------------- Emanuel Gruengard During the academic year 1990-1991 I have conducted a one semester seminar in Artificial life, for graduate students at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science of the Bar-Ilan University in Israel. Nine registered students participated in the seminar, as well as a varying number of additional non-registered students (0 to 5), who drifted in and out of various lectures. Each of the student had two assignments, that he/she had to accomplish during the one and a half, to one and three quarters hour sessions that were allotted to him/her. The first one was a presentation and a discussion of a selected chapter from Artificial Life I (there was no Artificial Life II at that time). The second one, was a either running a demo of a small program, that had a relevance to the presented article, and which he/she had to code, or an additional discussion of a close topic. In most cases, the material was drawn from articles that appeared in the Computer Recreations section of the Scientific American magazine. We had eleven meeting as in addition to the students' presentations, there was an introductory session, in which I presented the subject of AL, its place in the developing new trends in computer science, its relevant to Neural Networks, (which was the AI seminar of the previous year, and the class lecture of the following year), and selected philosophical and ethical problems that are an integral part of the subject. This lecture was based mainly on Langton: "Artificial Life" from AL-I. I have also had a quest speaker. Dr. Yuval Davidor from the Weizmann Institute of Science, lectured about Genetic Algorithms, and distributed a reprint of his article: "An Intuitive Introduction to Genetic Algorithms as Adaptive Optimization Procedures". The nine (double) assignments were: (All articles, unless specified otherwise, were from Artificial Life I) (SA-CR stands for: Scientific American/Computer Recreations. All of these articles can also be found in the two books published by Dewdney: "The Armchair Universe" and "The Magic Machine") 1. Tamary & Hartman: "Cellular Automata, Reaction-Diffusion Systems, and the Origin of Life" + Buckingham: "Some Facts of Life", BYTE, December 1978 2. Taylor, Jefferson, Turner & Goldman: "RAM: Artificial Life for the Exploration of Complex Biological Systems" + Dewdney: "Sharks and Fish wage an Ecological War on the Toroidal Planet Wa-Tor", SA-CR, December 1984 3. Wilson: "The Genetic Algorithm and Simulated Evolution" Dawkins: "The Evolution of Evolvability" + Dewdney: "Exploring the Field of Genetic Algorithms in a Primordial Computer Sea full of Flibs", SA-CR, November 1985 4. Lugowski: "Computational Metabolism: Towards Biological Geometries for Computing" + Dewdney: "Braitenberg Memories for Probing Behavior Roam a Dark Plain marked by Lights",SA-CR, March 1987 5. Lindenmayer & Prusinkiewicz: "Developmental Models of Multicellular Organisms: A Computer Graphics Perspective" Saupe: "A unified approach to Fractal Curves and Plants", in Peitgen & Saupe's "The Science of Fractal Images" + Dewdney: "Simulated Evolution: Wherein Bugs learn to hunt Bacteria" 6. Hogweg: "MIRROR beyond MIRROR, Puddles of LIFE" + Dewdney: "Diverse Personalities search for Social Equilibrium at a Computer Party" 7. Moravec: "Human Culture: A Genetic Takeover Underway" + Dewdney: "A Circuitous Odyssey from Robotropolis to the Electronic Gates of Silicon Valley", SA-CR, July 1985 8. Schneiker: "Nano Technology with Feynman Machines: Scanning Tunneling Engineering and Artificial Life" + Dewdney: "Nanotechnology: Wherein Molecular Computers Control tiny Circulatory Submarines", SA-CR, January 1988 9. Goel & Thompson: "Movable Finite Automata (MFA): A New Tool for Computer Modeling of Living Systems" + Dewdney: "The Game of Life acquires Successors in three Dimensions", SA-CR, February 1987 The students were also referred to complimentary books, for further enhancements of relevant topics: Dennett - Brainstorms Fjermedal - The Tomorrow Makers Pagles - The Dreams of Reason Minsky - The Society of Mind Penrose - The Emperor's new Mind Graubard - The Artificial Intelliegnce Debate Searle - Minds, Brains and Science Schrodinger - What is Life? Poundstone - The Recursive Universe Berlekamp, Conway & Guy - Winning Ways for your Mathematical Plays Wolfram - Theory and Applications of Cellular Automata Braitenberg - Vehicles Dawkins - The Blind Watchmaker Prusinkiewicz & Lindenmayer - The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants Dryefus - What Computers Can't Do Hofstadler & Dennett - The Mind's I Borges - Selected Short Stories in various anthologies Churchland - Neurophilosophy In a future note, I will provide, an annotated bibliography of the books mentioned above and additional ones, from which material could be selected for similar seminars. Now that we have "Artificial Life -II", and Valera's: "Toward a practice of an autonomous system (European Artificial Life - I)", we have a more comprehensive selection from which we could offer a better balanced seminar. Regards, Emanuel *--------------------------------------------------------------------* * Emanuel Gruengard, Departement of Mathematics and Computer Science * * Bar-Ilan University, Bar-Ilan Campus, 52900 Ramat-Gan, Israel * * E-mail: F68413@BARILVM.BITNET Fax: +972-3-344-622 * *--------------------------------------------------------------------* Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 11:25:38 IST From: Emanuel Subject: ALIFE Biblography To: alsyll@lotka.Stanford.EDU Artificial Life: A partial Bibliography --------------------------------------- Emanuel Gruengard, Bar-Ilan University =>>> Please amend, correct & expand the list <<<= Introduction and Popular ------------------------ 1: Steven Levy: Artificial Life - The Quest for a New Creation, Pantheon Books, NY, 1992 [A popular presentation on ALIFE, its objectives, history and the people involved] 2: Grant Fjermedal: The Tomorrow Makers, A Brave New world of Living-Brain Machines, Tempus, Redmond, 1986 [A popular exposition about the search for immortality and the searchers] 3: Heinz Pagels: The Dreams of Reason, The Computer and the Rise of the Sciences of Complexity, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1988 [Popular exposition of AI, Chaos Theory and Mind/Body problem] 4: Marvin Minsky: The Society of Mind, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1986 [Explaining by "splinters" of articles, how the brain works by employing minute functional units that combines to an entity. The Bottom - Up approach. Quantity turns into Quality] 5: Douglas Hofstadter & Daniel Dennett: The Mind's I, Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul, Bantam, Toronto, 1982 [Articles, stories and dialogues about the Mind/Body problem] Techniques ---------- 1: Stephen Wolfram: Theory and Applications of Cellular Automata, World Scientific, Singapore, 1986 [An anthology of articles dealing with Cellular Automata]y 2: Elwyn Berlekamp, John Conway & Richard Guy: Winning Ways for your mathematical plays, Volume 2: Games in Particular, Academic Press, London, 1982. [An extensive discussion on the Game of LIFE. Includes the proof on the universality computing power of LIFE] 3: William Poundstone: The Recursive Universe, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1987 (Paperback) [A popular treatment of the game of LIFE] 4: John Holland:Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems, University of Michigan Press, 1975 (Reissue, MIT Press 1992) [The classical book by the father of GA about the subject] 5: David Goldberg: Genetic Algorithms in Search, Optimization, and Machine Learning, Addison-Wesley, Reading, 1989 [A text book on the theory, operation and application of GA] 6: Lawerence Davis: Handbook on Genetic Algorithms, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1991 [Tutorial and case studies, another text book] 7: John Koza: Genetic Programming, MIT Press, Cambridge, (due in November 1992) [On the programming of computers by means of natural selection and genetics] Evolution/Biology ----------------- 1: Richard Dawkins: The Blind Watchmaker, W.E. Norton, New York, 1987 [An enthusiastic defense of the Darwin's evolution Theory. Includes a description of his Biomorf Program.] 2: Richard Dawkins: The Selfish Gene, Oxford University Press, 1978 [Who is the one to compete? the Species or the Gene? Dawkins believes in the second alternative] 3: A. G. Cairns-Smith: Seven Clues to the Origin of Life, Cambridge University Press (Canto), 1990 [How life may have arisen on earth, and how it started from Clay] 4: Erwin Schrodinger: What is Life?, Cambridge University Press (Canto), 1992 [A physicist's exploration of the question which lies at the heart of biology] 5: Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz & Aristid Lindenmayer: The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1990 [Description of L-Systems, coupled with astounding pictures] Creation -------- 1: Hans Moravec: Mind Children, The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1988 [A book by one of the proponents of the feasibility to create living robots that might inherit the Homo Sapiens] 2: John Pollack: How to Build A Person - A Prolegomenon, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1989 [A Theory of rationality and its partial implementation in OSCAR, a computer system whose descendants will literally be persons] 3: Valentino Braitenberg - Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology, MIT Press 1984 [A how a simple neural network can generate complex patterns of "behavior"] Physics/Information ------------------- 1: Tom Stoner: Information and the Internal Structure of the Universe, Springer-Verlag, London, 1990 [Examines the idea that information may be as much a part of the physical universe as matter and energy] Conferences/Compendium ---------------------- 1: Christopher Langton: Artificial Life, The Proceedings on the 1987 Workshop in Los Almos, NM, Addison-Wesley, Redwood City California, 1989 [The proceedings of the first conference on Alife] 2: Christopher Langton, Charles Taylor, Doyne Farmer, Steen Rasmussen: Artificial Life II, The Proceedings on the second (1990) Workshop in Santa Fe Almos, NM, Addison-Wesley, Redwood City California, 1992 [The proceedings of the second conference on Alife] 3: Christopher Langton: Artificial Life II, Video Proceedings, Addison-Wesley, Redwood City ,California, 1992 [Interesting video presentations: Historical, Science, Clips] 4: Varela: Towards a practice of autonomous systems, MIT press 1992 [The proceedings of the first European AL conference] Fantasy/Speculative ------------------- 1: Leo Lionni: Parallel Botany, Knoff, New York, 1977 [A witty book on a vast, ramified, peculiar and imaginary kingdom of Botany] 2: Dougal Dixon: After Man - a Zoology of the Future, St. martin Press, New York, 1981 [50 millions years in the future. Man has long been extinct, and new animals have taken over the earth's surface...] Critics and Ethics ------------------ 1: Alan Turing: Computing Machinery and Intelligence, Mind, Vol. LIX, No. 236(1950) [Turing's classical article proposing his test.] 2: John Searle : Mind, Brains and Science, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusettes, 1984 [Searle published his "Chinese Test" many time, in various publications. This booklet is his BBC lectures] 3: Roger Penrose: The Emperor's New Mind, Oxford University Press, New York, 1989 (Paperback by Vintage Press, London, 1990) [A critic on the basic assumptions and objectives of the strong claim of AI and ALIFE] 4: Hubert Dryefus: What Computers Can't Do, A Critique of Artificial Reason, Harper & Row, New York, 1972 [A critic on the notion that Human intelligence and Machine intelligence can even be compared] 5: Joseph Weizenbaum: Computer Power and Human Reason, W. H. Freeman & Co., San Francisco, 1976 [Is it moral to engage in AI (and AL)?] 6: Stephen Graubard: The Artificial Intelligence Debate, False Starts, Real Foundations, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1988 [An excellent collection of articles dealing with the techniques, implementation, philosophy, ethics, hope and disappointments of AI] Computer Programs ----------------- 1: Thomas Ray - Tierra. [Life and death in a digital world. Survival of the fittest electronic organisms illustrate Darwinian principles - MS/DOS and UNIX systems] 2: Richard Dawkins: Blind Watchmaker [Darwinian selection thru electronic mutation. Original program for the Apple Macintosh. A simpler version for the IBM-PC, called Biomurffs by D. J. Murphy, exist for the PC] 3: Bert Tyler & friends: Fractint [A comprehensive Fractal system that includes L-system as one of its components. For the PC] 5: Maxis Co.: SIM LIFE [Building your own ecosystem. Experiment with extinction, mutation, disease, ... Macintosh & PC versions during 1992] 6: Maxis Co.: El-Fish [A highly graphical environmental electronic lab, for the PC. Due toward the end of 1992] 7: Autodesk: CA Lab [Two CA simulators for the PC] 8: Axcelis Inc.: Evolver [Genetic Algorithm system] 9: Larry Yager: Polyworld [Ecological simulator. Unix systems] 10: David Hesierman: Projects in Machine Intelligence for your Home Computer, Tab Books, Blue Ridge Summit, 1982 [A book with BASIC listings] 11: Several graphics simulators of Darwinian evolution, based on A. K. Dewdney: "Simulated Evolution: wherein bugs learn to hunt bacteria" Scientific American, May 1989. * Bugs [Autodesk] * Bugland [Autodesk] * Simulated Evolution [Life science Associates] Fiction / Science Fiction -------------------------- There are so many books dealing with the creation of life, either biological or robotics, the techniques, the ethics and the outcomes, that it would be meaningless to list them all, or to dare to select the "best". Nevertheless, some are listed below. * The legend about Pygmalion and Galatea * Gershon Winkler - The Golem of Prague, The Judaica Press, New York, 1980 * Mary Shelly: Frankenstein * Carlo Collodi: Pinocchio * E. T. A. Hoffmann: Erzahlungen (i.e The Sandman, which served as the basis for Offenbach's Opera : Les Contes D'Hoffmann, in which appears Olympia - a mechanical doll.) * Olaf Stapleoon: Last and First Men * Carl Capeck: R.V.R * Luis Borges: Many short stories (e.g. Funes the Memorious, The Circular Ruins, The Immortals, ...) * Issac assimov: The robot stories (e.g. I robot) * Clifford Simack: City * Ridley Scott(director): Blade Runner (movie) Regards, Emanuel *--------------------------------------------------------------------* * Emanuel Gruengard, Departement of Mathematics and Computer Science * * Bar-Ilan University, Bar-Ilan Campus, 52900 Ramat-Gan, Israel * * E-mail: F68413@BARILVM.BITNET Fax: +972-3-344-622 * *--------------------------------------------------------------------* Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 22:08:14 IST From: "Emanuel Gruengard" Subject: Seminar 2 To: alsyll@lotka.Stanford.EDU Outlines of Seminar # 2 in Artificial Life ------------------------------------------ In a previous note (5 July 1992) I outlined the seminar I conducted during 1990-1991, at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. During the first semester of this academic year (1992-1993) I have conducted the second Seminar for graduate students. The seminar was conducted along much the same line, and you will be able to find its structure in the previous note. The major difference was that this time we used "Artificial Life II". Therefore the key topics were concerned with Genetic Algorithms, rather then Cellular Automata, which was the dominating topic of Artificial Life I", and the first seminar. I assume that a more balanced approach is needed, and any subsequent seminar (or course) will try to balance more thoroughly the topics. After my Introduction lecture about AL, the assignments were: 1. John Holland - Genetic Algorithm, Scientific American, July 1992. Daniel Hillis - Co-Evolving Improve Simulated Evolution as an Optimization Procedure (Al-II) 2. Richard Belew, ... - Evolving Networks: Using the Genetic Algorithm with Connectionist Learning ** (Student 1 & 2 had also to code (together) a computer program based on Dewdney's article in Scientific American, November 1985: "Exploring the field of genetic algorithms in a primordial computer sea full of flibs") 3. David Jefferson, ... - Evolution as a Theme in Artificial Life: The Genesys/Tracker System (AL-II) 4. Robert Collins, ... - Ant Farm: Towards Simulated Evolution ** (Student 3 & 4 had also to code (together) a computer program based on Dewdney's article in Scientific American, December 1984: "Sharks and fish wage an ecological war on the toroidal planet Wa-Tor") 5. Mark Bedau, ... - Measurement of Evolutionary Activity, Teleology, and Life (AL-II) 6. John Koza - Genetic Evolution and Co-Evolution of Computer Programs (AL-II) ** (Student 5 & 6 had also to code (together) a computer program based on Dewdney's article in Scientific American, September 1987: "Diverse personalities search for social equilibrium at a computer party") 7. Thomas Ray - An Approach to the Synthesis of Life (Tierra) ** (Student 7 had also to code a computer program based on Bill Mason "Silicon Retina - The Software" in Algorithms, issue 2.4, October 1991 and, Mahowald, ... - The Silicon Retina, Scientific American, May 1991) 8. Carlo Maley - The Computational Completeness of Ray's Tierran Assembly Language (Distributed at AL-III) ** (Student 8 had also to code a computer program based on Dewdney's article in Scientific America, May 1989: "Simulated Evolution: wherein bugs learn to hunt bacteria") *** (Students 7 & 8 had also to demonstrate, to the rest of the students the Tierra program) 9. Steen Rasmussen, ... - Dynamics of Programmable Matter (AL-II) ** (Student 9 had also to code a computer program based on Dewdney's article "A computer grid illustrates social networks and epidemics" in Algorithms, issue 2.3, May 1991 10. David Ackley, ... - Interaction between Learning & Evolution (AL-II) ** (Student 10 had also to code a computer program based on Dewdney's article "Bringing tur-mites to life" in Algorithms, issue 1.7, November 1990 **** In addition the students were invited to my house where I showed them the "Artificial Life II - Video Proceedings" Bibliography: Additions ----------------------- In my note from 11 September 1992, I supplied quite an extensive bibliography relating to AL. I feel that the following books should also be included: Philip N. Johnson-Laird: The Computer and the Mind, An Introduction to Cognitive Science, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1988 Keith Campbell: Body and Mind, MacMillan Press, London 1970 Daniel C. Dennet: Brainstorms - Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology, The MIT Press, 1991 Arthur C. Clarke: Childhood's End Regards, Emanuel *--------------------------------------------------------------------* * Emanuel Gruengard, Departement of Mathematics and Computer Science * * Bar-Ilan University, Bar-Ilan Campus, 52900 Ramat-Gan, Israel * * E-mail: F68413@BARILVM.BITNET Fax: +972-3-344-622 * *--------------------------------------------------------------------*