Digital organism simulators
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This is a list of Artificial life/Digital organism simulators, organized by the method of creature definition.
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[edit] Program-based
These contain organisms with a complex DNA language, usually Turing complete. This language is more often in the form of a computer program than actual biological DNA. Assembly derivatives are the most common languages used. Use of cellular automata is common but not required.
- Avida
- Breve (actually a multi-purpose simulation environment)
- Darwinbots
- Tierra
- Nanopond
[edit] Module Based
Individual modules are added to a creature. These modules modify the creature's behaviors and characteristics either directly, by hard coding into the simulation (leg type A increases speed and metabolism), or indirectly, through the emergent interactions between a creature's modules (leg type A moves up and down with a frequency of X, which interacts with other legs to create motion). Generally these are simulators which emphasize user creation and accessibility over mutation and evolution.
[edit] Parameter Based
Organisms are generally constructed with pre defined and fixed behaviors that are controlled by various parameters that mutate. That is, each organism contains a collection of numbers or other finite parameters. Each parameter controls one or several aspects of an organism in a well defined way.
- Jeffrey Ventrella's programs, Darwin Pond and Gene Pool.
- "Cell Based" - Parameters control the expression of "genes" or "proteins" which can themselves interact in complex ways. The resulting organism's properties are largely emergent, but are still encoded in the genome with a finite number of parameters.
[edit] Neural Net Based
These simulations have creatures that learn and grow using neural nets or a close derivative. Emphasis is often, although not always, more on learning than on natural selection.
