Date:  Thu, 7 Jan 93 14:56:56 PST
From: zwick@sysc.pdx.edu (Martin Zwick)
To: alsyll@lotka.Stanford.EDU

This is the syllabus of an ALife course I gave in the Fall of 1992. 
Comments and questions are welcome.

   - Martin Zwick (zwick@simon.sysc.pdx.edu)
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PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY                         Fall 1992
Systems Science Ph.D. Program                     Thurs. 4:00 - 6:30
Professor Martin Zwick                            Systems Science Bldg, Rm. 
102
tel: 725-4987; e-mail: zwick@simon.sysc.pdx.edu   1633 SW 11th 
Ave.


            A R T I F I C I A L   L I F E  (SySc 510/610)

"Artificial Life" (ALife) is a name being given to theoretical, 
mathematical,
and computational studies of phenomena commonly associated with 
"life," such as
replication, metabolism, morphogenesis, evolution, and adaptation, 
which rely
heavily on computer representation and simulation. ALife is the 
newest example
of what Herbert Simon called "the sciences of the artificial." Artificial 
Life
is to life what Artificial Intelligence is to intelligence.

Although it is too early to tell if the research activities subsumed 
under
ALife will crystalize as a distinct field, these activities are of 
considerable
interest; consider, e.g., the use of cellular automata as a modeling
methodology, the application of evolutionary and ecological ideas in
computational methods, advances in the generation and 
representation of form,
the phenomenon of computer viruses, the variety of simulation 
packages for
computational biology, etc.

As Christopher Langton, one of the founders of this field, writes: 
"Artificial
Life ... complements the traditional biological sciences concerned with 
the
analysis of living organisms by attempting to synthesize life-like 
behaviors
within computers and other artificial media. By extending the 
empirical
foundation upon which biology is based beyond the carbon chain life 
that has
evolved on Earth, Artificial Life can contribute to theoretical biology 
by
locating life-as-we-know-it within the larger picture of life-as-it-
could-be."
(C. Langton, Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National 
Laboratory)

The course will sample the research literature in this field, and will 
be
organized in a seminar format.

TEXTS:
1. Christopher Langton, ed., ARTIFICIAL LIFE, Volume VI, Santa Fe 
Institute
Studies in the Sciences of Complexity. Addison-Wesley, New York, 
1989.

2. Christopher Langton, Charles Taylor, J. Doyne Farmer, Steen 
Rasmussen,
ARTIFICIAL LIFE II, Volume X, Santa Fe Institute Studies in the 
Sciences of
Complexity. Addison-Wesley, New York, 1992.

3. Steven Levy, ARTIFICIAL LIFE. Pantheon, New York, 1992 (paper).

Prerequisites: Graduate status or consent of instructor

Course work: term paper or project; class participation.


COURSE OUTLINE: (names refer to the first author of article)

Sept 24      Introduction & course overview; ALife video.

Oct   1      Artificial life: history & current status.
          I: Preface, Langton, Laing (pp. xv-61)
         II: Preface, Langton, Taylor (pp. xiii-38)
       Levy: pp. 1-46

--------------------------------------------------
Sessions on topics the subject of current faculty research:

Oct   8      Cellular automata; dynamics & complexity; the edge of 
chaos.
         II: Langton, Kauffman (pp. 41-91, 325-369) [Smith (pp. 709-
725)]
       Levy: pp. 47-120
             Research presentation.

[Wed., Oct 14: Levy will give a talk at Reed and sign books at Powells]

Oct  15      Introduction to Genetic algorithms.
             Selection from Goldberg book; Holland Scientific Am. article

Oct  22      Evolution & learning: genetic algorithm & neural nets.
         II: Hillis, Ackley, Belew, Jefferson, Collins, Koza
             (pp. 313-324, 487-629)
       Levy: pp. 153-211, 241-251, 254-270
             Research presentation.

Oct  29      Ecological & evolutionary dynamics.
          I: Packard (pp. 141-155)
         II: Lindgren, Bedau (pp. 295-312, 431-461)
       Levy: pp. 251-253
             Research presentation: Bedau.

--------------------------------------------------
Other important topics:

Nov   5      Artificial chemistry: autocatalytic networks, metabolism.
         II: Bagley, Bagley, Fontana, Rasmussen (pp. 93-254)
       Levy: pp. 121-152

Nov  12      The computer as habitat; core wars and computer viruses.
         II: Ray, Spafford* (pp. 371-408, 727-745)
       Levy: pp. 215-230, 311-333

             Morphogenesis, L-systems, fractal modeling.
          I: Dawkins, Lindenmayer, Oppenheimer (pp. 201-274)
       Levy: pp. 211-214, 231-241

Nov  19      Philosophical issues.
          I: Pattee (pp. 63-77)
         II. Sober, Rasmussen, Cariani (pp. 749-797)

             Future prospects.
          I: Moravec (pp. 167-199)
         II: Farmer (pp. 815-840);
       Levy: pp. 333-348

Nov  26  THANKSGIVING: no class

--------------------------------------------------
[Monday, Nov 30: all PAPERS are DUE in SySc office.]


Dec   3  Student paper/project presentations.

Dec  10  Presentations, continued.