Contents of Philosophy of Artificial Life

Preface
Abstract
Chapter 1: Introduction
1. The rise of Artificial Life and its basic thoughts
2. The philosophical problems raised by Artificial Life
3. The value of researching philosophy of artificial Life
4. Current status of researching philosophy of Artificial Life and some unanswering questions
5. The structure of this book
Chapter 2: The logic of life and the thought foundation of Artificial Life
1. The essence of mechanic process
2. The logic of self-reproduction
3. Game of Life and “Life Computer”
4. Information dynamics and life at the edge of chaos
Chapter 3: Methodology of Construction of artificial life
1. Synthetic method
2. From local to global
3. Genetic algorithm
4. Computer simulation experiment: new methodological revolution of artificial life and complex science
5. Becoming and mergence
6. A new thinking paradigm: individual-based thinking
Chapter 4: Virtual artificial life: from “Core War” to “Amoeba World”
1. “Core War”
2. Computer Virus and Computer worm
3. Tierra: Man playing God
4. “Amoeba World”
Chapter 5: Realistic artificial life: from automatic agents to evolutionary robot
1. Classical research of Artificial Intelligence and its problems
2. Behavior-based research of autonomous robot
3. Artificial neural net research
4. Evolutionary robot research: the combination of virtuality and reality
Chapter 6: Definition of life and the possibility of strong artificial life
1. The difficulty of defining life
2. “Life-as-we-know-it”
3. Two methods of defining life
4. Four “fundamental properties” definition
5. The possibility of strong artificial life
Chapter 7: The ontological status of strong artificial life
1. The realness of virtuality
2. Theoretical argument for the realness of artificial life
3. Godel’s theorem and strong artificial life
Chapter 8: Towards computationalism
1. Information, algorithm, and computation
2. The essence of computation
3. Cognition and computation
4. Life and computation
5. Universe and computation
6. Refutations to some opposite ideas
7. Conclusion
Acknowledgement

Philosophy of Artificial Life

Towards Computationalism: Philosophy of Artificial Life
Li Jianhui
(Department of Philosophy, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China)

The computational revolution in the 20th century has produced a revolution in methodology in which computer simulations are performed as experiments. One outcome of this methodological revolution is the birth of the new frontier science, Artificial Life (Alife). Alife tries to use computers to create entities which exhibit characteristics of life in the computer or in the real world, and from the perspective of computation, it views life as a special algorithm. In January of 2004, China Book Press published my new book: Towards Computationalism: An Introduction to Philosophy of Artificial Life. This is the first book that systematically explores the philosophy of Artificial Life. Now I summarize the main contents and points of this book.

Because of the uniqueness and novelty of the goals, methods, and conceptualization of the Artificial Life, not only are many scientists attracted to do research in this area, but, in addition, many philosophers are attracted by the goal of generalizing new philosophical ideas from its concepts and theories. In Chapter One of this book, the challenges presented by Artificial Life to philosophy are illustrated.

The ideas of Alife can be traced to John von Neumann. Von Neumann proved that the logic of self-reproduction can be abstracted from life itself. After von Neumann, John Conway proved that the cellular automaton is equivalent to a Turing machine; Stephen Wolfram found that there are four kinds of cellular automatons; Chris Langton realized that the rule space of cellular automata closely relates to phase transition and computation: cellular automata which are at the edge of chaos can support complicated computation. Langton herein germinated the ideas of Alife: if we can create the conditions on the edge of chaos in some kinds of media, then we might create life in them. Chapter Two of this book mainly discusses the logic of life and the relation of life, information, and computation, elucidating the theoretical foundation of artificial life.

Chapter Three explores the constructive methodology of artificial life. Differing from a traditional top-down analytical and centralized controlling methodology, the new methodology of artificial life research is bottom-up and synthetic: it tries to simulate individual units instead of one big complex unit; to use local control instead of global control; to let the behavior emerge from the bottom up, instead of being specified from the top down. This kind of individual-based modeling has already become an important conceptual paradigm, not only for Alife, but for other sciences that study complex systems.

There are two types of artificial life: virtual artificial life and realistic artificial life. Virtual artificial life mainly uses software to create artificial life entities in a computer; realistic artificial life uses hardware to create artificial entities in the real world. The main ideas and contents of virtual artificial life and realistic artificial life are analyzed in Chapter Four and Chapter Five, respectively.

There are two claims about artificial life. Strong artificial life believes that Alife entities are or ultimately will be genuine life; while weak artificial life believes that Alife entities are merely simulations of natural life. Two claims are closely related to our definition of life. Chapter Six first probes the definition of life and then theoretically elucidates whether artificial life, especially virtual artificial life, is real life or not, based on the definition. If we understand life from an informational perspective, then we would support strong artificial life.

Chapter Seven discusses the ontological status of artificial life. If we view virtual life or digital life from the perspective of the interior processes of the computer, then their reality is indubitable. The creativity of computers has already made us believe that we can create an independent world, that there is a virtual life world in a computer, and that this virtual life world has the same ontological status as our real world. Gödel's incomplete theorem can't negate the possibility of digital life.

Artificial life views the essence of life as computation. If we enlarge our perspective, we find that there are many contemporary sciences, such as DNA computational theory, artificial intelligence, computational biology, etc., that not only view the essence of life as computation, but also view the essence of intelligence as computation. We can go even further to say that the whole world is constructed by algorithmic rules, and in some sense, the universe can be seen as a huge computational system.

Key Words: Life, Artificial Life, View of Life, Philosophy, Computation, Computationalism

Jianhui, Li. 2004. Towards Computationalism: Philosophy of Artificial Life. Beijing: China Book Press. Ⅷ+238p. $28, ISBN 7-5068-1175-8

Digital Genesis: The New Science of Artificial Life, New book written by Li Jianhui

Autolife: A new platform for researching artificial life

Autolife is an artificial life model developed by Zhang Jiang. Every digital artificial life in Autolife can be viewed as an autonomous agent that is modeled by a Finite State Machine. Agents can achieve the open-ended evolution because they are allowed to self-programming universally by mutation and self-reproduction. From Autolife, we can see many emergent phenomena, including individual behaviors, group dynamics and the producing, social parasitism, self-repairing of organization making up with agents. The fruitful metaphors can be used to explain the general emergent principles, including individuals can push themselves to the edge of chaos for improvement of their fitness; different environments can produce different adaptive group behaviors; when the causal closure exists in the system the emergence of organization is unavoidable, and organizations can produce, evolving and dieing by themselves simultaneously.

You can download Autolife from here.

You can also visit author's website to see the results of Autolife.

Download Primordial Life 3.21

Primordial Life has stretched its boundaries across Cyberspace. If you are new to Primordial Life, I think you'll find that this artificial life program unique and interesting. If you think you might enjoy watching artificial life evolve in front of your eyes, you should enjoy this program. Primordial Life 3.2 is a shareware program and is usable without registering, although I hope you will find it worthy to do so.
New in Primordial Life 3.21
Primordial Life 3.21 fixes the unintentional NaN virus (only contracted by biots). The virus results in biots becoming immobilized.
Primordial Life 3.2 uses a Primordial Life server to automatically hook up biot ecosystems together over the Internet! There have been a few simulation changes as well. For instance, biots now have gender. Survival strategies must consider the male to female ratio. Males and females may differ from one another in both color and size.
Primordial Life Installation Instructions:
Download pl321.exe (540K) and store in a temporary place.
Go to your Start Menu and run pl321.exe
Now just follow the installation instructions.
After installation, you can delete pl321.exe

VIRTUAL ORGANISMS: The Startling World of Artificial Life

VIRTUAL ORGANISMS: The Startling World of Artificial Life MARK WARD. St. Martin's/Dunne, $23.95 (320p) ISBN 0-312-26691-X
Artificial intelligence research has tried to make machines that think; the newer and in many ways more exciting field of artificial life ("ALife") seeks computers and computer-riv en machines that work like-or arguably in some sense are-living things. ALife "encompasses software simulations, robotics, protein electronics and even attempts to re-create the world's first living organisms." This compelling and easy-to-follow volume from the Daily Telegraph (U.K.) tech journalist Ward picks up where Steven Levy's Anti facial Life (1992) left off, surveying recent and classic AIr ife work in all its subfields. Bell Labs researcher Andrew Pargellis's "computer simulation of a primordial soup" produces "working, replicating programs" analogous to the self replicating molecules that colonized the early Earth. John Horton Conway's computerized "Game of Life" produces "CellularAutomata," self perpetuating, evolving patterns that model biological evolution. Cambridge scientist William Walter's 1950s robots "Elmer" and "Elsie," he claims, chased each other like cats and learned tricks like dogs: inspired by them, MIs Rodney Brooks makes robots that can explore the real world, "solving the same problems that animals face." Programs that replicate, mix with other programs and generate somewhat different successors mimic the sexual reproduction that has made possible much of our evolution: these programs, called "agents," may someday run telephone networks and other large electronic systems-with catastrophic consequences if they evolve in ways that are bad for us. Though he includes some scary scenarios, Ward is largely upbeat about the scientific and practical future of ALife in all its manifestations. After his sometimes exciting, always accessible exposition, his satisfied readers may learn to love it, too. (Nov.)

Virtual Socioblogy

Virtual Sociology; Artificial life forms inhabiting virtual worlds are nothing new to fans of computer games like The Sims, but rewiring artificial life for scientific research is a new frontier.

Karen Jones. PC Magazine. New York: Sep 20, 2005.Vol.24, Iss. 16; pg. 21

Artificial life forms inhabiting virtual worlds are nothing new to fans of computer games like The Sims, but rewiring artificial life for scientific research is a new frontier. The New and Emergent Worlds Through Individual, Evolutionary and Social Learning (NEW TIES) project is developing a computer-simulated society, observed by experts, which may eventually benefit information technologies, computing systems, AI, and linguistics.

Backed by a group of European universities, NEW TIES will place 1,000 agents in a simulated world on a 50-node network, with the goal of seeing them evolve a culture. "The project can help us find out about the factors necessary for certain attributes of society to come into being," says Professor Ben Paechter of Scotland's Napier University.

Paechter adds that agents will start with few skills and will need to learn how to acquire food and to communicate. Their language will evolve from scratch, says Dr. Paul Vogt of Tilburg University in the Netherlands.

As to how NEW TIES might benefit real societies, Paechter posits that it makes otherwise impossible experiments possible. For example, the agents could be stripped of key resources in their environment, and the effects of the hardship studied in ways that would be inappropriate in a real society. You can track the virtual culture at www.new-ties.org .

Artificial Life

Christopher G. Langton

Artificial life, a field that seeks to increase the role of synthesis in the study of biological phenomena, has great potential, both for unlocking the secrets of life and for raising a host of disturbing issues -- scientific and technical as well as philosophical and ethical. This book brings together a series of overview articles that appeared in the first three issues of the groundbreaking journal Artificial Life, along with a new introduction by Christopher Langton, Editor-in-Chief of Artificial Life, founder of the discipline, and Director of the Artificial Life Program at the Santa Fe Institute.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Editor's Introduction
1
Artificial Life as a Tool for Biological Inquiry by Charles Taylor and David Jefferson

Cooperation and Community Structure in Artificial Ecosystems by Kristian Lindgren and Mats G. Nordahl

Extended Molecular Evolutionary Biology: Artificial Life Bridging the Gap Between Chemistry and Biology by P. Schuster

Visual Models of Morphogenesis by Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz

The Artificial Life Roots of Artificial Intelligence by Luc Steels

Toward Synthesizing Artificial Neural Networks that Exhibit Cooperative Intelligent Behavior: Some Open Issues in Artificial Life by Michael G. Dyer

Modeling Adaptive Autonomous Agents by Pattie Maes

Chaos as a Source of Complexity and Diversity in Evolution by Kunihiko Kaneko

An Evolutionary Approach to Synthetic Biology: Zen and the Art of Creating Life by Thomas S. Ray

Beyond Digital Naturalism by Walter Fontana, Günter Wagner and Leo W. Buss

Learning About Life by Mitchel Resnick

Book Reviews: Books on Artificial Life and Related Topics by David G. Stork

Computer Viruses as Artificial Life by Eugene H. Spafford

Genetic Algorithms and Artificial Life by Melanie Mitchell and Stephanie Forrest

Artificial Life as Philosophy by Daniel Dennett

Levels of Functional Equivalence in Reverse Bioengineering by Stevan Hamad

Why Do We Need Artificial Life? by Eric W. Bonabeau and Guy Theraulaz

Index

Call for participation, win €10,000

Art & Artificial Life International Competition

Theme

VIDA 8.0 is the seventh edition of this international competition, created to reward excellence in artistic creativity in the field of artificial life.

In previous editions, prizes have been awarded to autonomous entities able to bring us pleasure (Tickle 2.0, Tickle Salon 5.0), engage us in irrational conversations (Head 3.0) or invade our social space (Cour des Miracles 2.0); virtual ecologies that evolve with user participation (Autopoiesis 3.0, Electric Sheep and Remain in Light 4.0), autonomous systems that use the feedback obtained as a mechanism and metaphor for transformation (Appearance machine 3.0, Levántate 5.0) and works highlighting the social side of artificial life (Novus Extinctus 4.0, The Relative Velocity Inscription Device 5.0, The Central City 6.0 and Spore 7.0).

Other themes are addressed in works that have been given honourable mentions: avatars and players in their unique worlds (Iconica 2.0, Life Spacies II and Unconscious Flow 3.0), new interpretations of the roots of artificial life, such as cellular automatons (Sandlines 3.0, Dadatron 5.0) and system feedback or autonomy translated into simple familiar media (Breathe and Autistic-Artistic Machine 4.0, The Responsive Field of Lattice Archipelogics 5.0).

We are looking for art that reflects the panorama of the possible interaction between 'synthetic' and organic life, e.g.

- Autonomous agents that shape and perhaps interpret the data-saturated environment we have in common.
- Portraits of inter-subjectivity or empathy shared between artificial entities and ourselves.
- Intelligent anthropomorphisation of the datasphere and its inhabitants.
- User-defined exploration and interaction designed to reduce fear and stimulate interest in the emerging phenomena which, by definition, are beyond our control.

An international jury will award prizes to the most outstanding projects in electronic art which use techniques such as digital genetics, autonomous robotics, recursive chaotic algorithms, knowbots, computer viruses, virtual ecosystems and avatars.

Prizes

There is a total of €20,000 in prizes for the three projects selected by the jury:

First prize: €10,000
Second prize: €7,000
Third prize: €3,000

There will also be special mentions for a further seven projects chosen by the jury

Entry

Each project must be submitted as a 5-10-minute video with voice-over narration describing the artistic concept and the technological realization of the project presented. The project must be post-September 2003. The jury's decision will be based essentially on the video.

Participants must provide a VHS tape (PAL, NTSC or SECAM format) or DVD for the jury. If your work is awarded a prize or a special mention, you will be asked to provide a video on professional-quality format (Dvcam, Betacam, ¾” U-Matic, MiniDV) for inclusion in The Best of VIDA 8.0 .

The competition is open to participants from all over the world; however, each participant may present only one project.

To register, read the competition rules, complete and sign the application form and submit it together with the tape to Fundación Telefónica before 30 September 2005.

For the video and the VIDA 8.0 website, we also require the following (printed and a copy on CD):

- A short biography (150-200 words) of the author(s).
- A description of the concept inspiring the project.
- Technical information about the project.
- One to three images (slides, photos or high-quality scans on CD or the Internet).
- A transcription of the video narration.

The application form contains the information required on the material that must be supplied to register for the competition.

Production

Incentive for productions in Spain, Portugal and Latin America

The second category of the competition promotes the production of pieces with artificial life and robotics techniques in Spain, Portugal and Latin America. With prize money totalling €20,000, this category includes prizes for one to three proposals meeting the following criteria: relevant concept, proven quality in previous works and evidence of the artist's ability to produce the piece.

The prize is an incentive for production, not a subsidy to cover the total expenses of a project. Consequently, value is placed on the participant's capacity to secure the technical, financial and logistic infrastructure needed to produce the piece.

Each project must be described in a memorandum contain no more than 2,000 words. The text must include details of the concepts and techniques to be used to develop the piece. Diagrams, sketches and any other material that supports the proposal and help the jury understand how the piece works should be furnished.

The competition is open to participants from anywhere in Latin America, Spain or Portugal. Proposals may be sent in Spanish, Portuguese or English. However, each participant may present only one project.

To register, read the competition rules, complete and sign the application form and send it to Fundación Telefónica before 30 September 2005. The application form contains the information required on the material required to register for the competition.

Jury

The works submitted will be examined by an international jury that will meet in Madrid from 20 October 2005. The names of the prize-winners and the special mentions will be published on Monday, 24 October during a round table attended by all the members of the jury. The jury's decision will be final.

Members of the jury:

Sally Jane Norman, France/New Zealand (Chairperson)
Chris Csikszentmihalyi, USA
Daniel García Andujar, Spain
Daniel Canogar, Spain
José-Carlos Mariátegui, Peru
Fiona Raby, United Kingdom

Contact

For further information about the competition, please write toElena González elena.gonzalezdelafuente@

telefonica.es
To confirm whether or not a proposal is appropriate for the competition, please write to:
(in English) Sally Jane Norman s.j.norman@newcastle.ac.uk
(in Spanish) Daniel Canogar daniel@canogar.com
Elena González de la FuenteVIDA 8.0
Competición Internacional 2005
Fundación Telefónica
Gran Vía, 28. 2ª planta28013 Madrid, Spain
Tel. 34 91 584 2315
Fax: 34 91 531 7106
E-Mail: elena.gonzalezdelafuente@telefonica.es
http://www.fundacion.telefonica.com/at/

vida/http://vidalife.org

Conway's Game of Life

Achim Flammenkamp's Game of Life Page - Collection of resources on Conway's Game of Life.
Color Game Of Life Visual Exhibition - Explore Conway's Game Of Life in color on the WWW, by George Maydwell.
Conway's Game of Life Java applet by Alan Hensel - A very fast Java applet that displays a collection of the greatest patterns ever created in Conway's Game of Life.
3D Game of Life - An animated 3D generalization of John Conway's Game of Life written in Java, with examples.
David Ingalls Bell's Homepage - Articles on Conway's Game of Life and related Cellular Automata, free Unix software, archives of Life and other CA patterns.
Dean Hickerson's Game of Life page - A collection of Life patterns designed by the author.
Eric's Treasure Trove of Life - Eric W. Weisstein's home page about Conway's Game of Life and related CA. Tutorial, information, patterns, links, references.
Game of Life in Java - Java applet (with source) by Edwin Martin.
Game of Life in Java - Java applet by David Laurent. Game of Life in colours or Black and White, many shapes
Game of Life: Patterns, Programs, and Links - Information on Conway's Game of Life, including a library of patterns with descriptions, articles on special topics, software, and links. By Paul Callahan.
Games of Life in Colour - Black&White, Rainbow Life, and RGB averaging, by Gunnar Johnsson.
Gliders in Life-like Systems - An online interactive database of rules with gliders, by D. Eppstein.
gLife - An artificial life implementation using GNOME as its front end. Like "Conway's Game of Life' but with a totally different ruleset.
Jason's Conway's Game of Life Page - Patterns and resources for Conway's Game of Life and related Cellular Automata by Jason Summers.
John Conway's Game of LIfe - A simple Java implementation of Conway's classic game of life. Use stock starting points or draw your own.
joseph huang - Parsons MFADT - joseph huang - Parsons MFA Design and Technology portfolio website. includes a flash implentation of conway's game of life.
Life32 - Home page for Life32, The best Conway's Game of Life simulator for 32-bit Windows. By Johan Bontes.
LifeGen for EPOC - A freeware program to simulate John Conway's Game of Life on EPOC handheld devices. By Edward J. Sheldrake.
LifeLab for Macs - Andrew Trevorrow's Macintosh application for exploring John Conway's Game of Life and other 2D cellular automata.
Mark D. Niemiec's Home Page - John Horton Conway's Game of Life, including complete lists and glider syntheses of smaller still-lifes, oscillators, and spaceships.
OpenLife - OpenLife is kind of a Game of Life for the new generation, using latest but tested technologies. However unlike its distant predecessor, OpenLife seeks to be useful.
Probalistic Life - Java applet of Life, with the ability to change the rules producing some very interesting variants on the classic Conway Life.
Stephen Silver's Life Page - Home Page of Life Lexicon. Life patterns, links.

Download Game: 3D Artificial Life Floy

Artfificial Life Game: 3D Artificial Life Floy (by Alex Vulliamy).

Two articles published on Artificial Life. You can download it from here

Autopoiesis and Cognition in the Game of Life
Randall D. Beer

Maturana and Varela’s notion of autopoiesis has the potential to transform the conceptual foundation of biology, as well as the cognitive, behavioral and brain sciences. In order to fully realize this potential, however, the concept of autopoiesis and its many consequences require significant further theoretical and empirical development. A crucial step in this direction is the formulation and analysis of models of autopoietic systems. This paper sketches the beginnings of such a project by examining a glider from the Game of Life in autopoietic terms. Such analyses can clarify some of the key ideas underlying autopoiesis and draw attention to some of the central open issues. This paper also examines the relationship between an autopoietic perspective on cognition and recent work on dynamical approaches to the behavior and cognition of situated, embodied agents.

30 Years of Computational Autopoiesis: A Review
Barry McMullin

Computational Autopoiesis—the realisation of autopoietic entities in computational media—holds an important and distinctive role within the field of Artificial Life. Its earliest formulation by Francisco Varela, Humberto Maturana and Ricardo Uribe was seminal in demonstrating the use of an artificial, computational, medium to explore the most basic question of the abstract nature of living systems - over a decade in advance of the first Santa Fe Workshop on Artificial Life. The research programme it originated has generated substantive demonstrations of progressively richer, life-like, phenomena. It has also sharply illuminated both conceptual and methodological problems in the field. This paper provides an integrative overview of the sometimes disparate work in this area, and argues that Computational Autopoiesis continues to provide an effective framework for addressing key open problems in Artificial Life.