(January 23, 2015 at 9:52 pm)Heywood Wrote:(January 23, 2015 at 9:09 pm)rasetsu Wrote: Computers don't have heritable traits because they don't reproduce. Variables in a computer program are not "a population". Hardware doesn't accumulate changes; it occupies differing states.
That you can't see the difference between a program which models evolution and a system that actually evolves just means you've thrown a spanner.
Replication is required for evolution, not necessarily reproduction. Within the spider sim is a set of variables which is what evolves.....not the computer. This set of variables is the population. In the spider sim it happens to be a population of one. This set of variables is passed on from one cycle of the process to the next or replicated. The variables contained within the set are the heritable traits. A random number generator changes the value of one or more these variables in the set at the beginning of the next cycle. If the change improves the performance of the set of variables the change is kept. If the change makes the performance of the set of variable worse, it is discarded.
The process of evolution found this solution for Megaman to defeat Airman. It did it by playing games over and over again(replication). The strategy was passed down from one game to next(heritiable traits). Small random changes were made in that strategy with each game(change). If the change resulted in a higher score it was kept, if it didn't it was discarded(selection).
I'm well acquainted with how these simulations work. I studied computer science in college as well as higher mathematics. I've been working with computers for 35 years. A simulated hurricane is still not a real hurricane, no matter how many analogies between the two you can find.