While I was putzing around on my computer, I came across my Java code for the "Game of Life" that I made Sophomore year. After some prettying up and modifying to create a rather unique version, I thought I'd put it up here. I'll be playing around with it and making it a tad more user-friendly. Until then, just hit buttons and see what happens. For a quick start, hit "Randomize" and "Run." Alternatively, if you are willing to wait a few moments, try "Clear Colony" (if you have one already), "Mutations On/Off", and "Run." In a few minutes, it should start itself up.
For an explanation and demo of the Game of Life in general, visit http://www.ibiblio.org/lifepatterns/. The difference in my version here is that I use 4 different age levels - child, adolescent, adult, and elder - and they interact with each other in different ways (for example, if a space has nothing currently on it, it sums up all of the adolescents and adults around it instead of all life as in the original version).
This came about as I was thinking about creation (I was reading about it for Systematic Theology I), and the whole creationist vs. evolution debate and Intelligent Design. So, this is part of my experiment to see how much design a mechanistic process can bring about. I seem to be getting mixed results. On the one hand, there is a good deal of "design" coming from entirely mechanistic processes (though, granted, at least in my souped up version there is a decent bit of design in those processes, but this design at least would not seem to result in the designs that it produces). On the other hand, the most complicated results are what one starts with, and as time goes on these complex clusters tend to kill each other off and only the small things that don't bother each other survive (or at least they predominate). This seems to be very 2nd law of thermodynamics-ish, and directly counter to evolutionistic trends. In addition, even mutations which are good for an individual seem to destabilize the group it is in, generally leading to destruction of the group. So, when all is said and done, it's a pretty computer program which may or may not make any solid philosophical points, but is a great time-waster nonetheless.
(I have removed the applet to make the blog load faster. To see it, go to: http://ilflauto.20m.com/java/index.html.)
2 comments:
If you are interested in that question. if you go find Richard Dawkins' _Blind Watchmaker_, he has a chapter devoted to his own computer program for generating complexity with cumulative selection.
I might check that out at some point. Though at least for the time being, I googled for a Java Applet demonstrating his program. I must say I wasn't terribly impressed - I think his program requires way too much personal control, between choosing desired "biomorphs" (as the site called them) and the whole set up involving genotypes. Is this similar to the set-up he uses in the book?
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