ARTIFICIAL LIFE, CULTURE AND EVOLUTIONARY DESIGN – SPRING 16x. (6 units)
Nicholas Gessler.
gessler@ucla.edu
http://www.bol.ucla.edu/~gessler/
2002 offering will be funded by the Honors Program.
This course is to be cross-listed with Design | Media Arts.
Time / Place: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10:00 ‘til noon. CLICC PC computer lab.
Enrollment Capacity: 14.
Karl Sims
Science is what we understand well enough to teach to a computer. Art is everything else. – Donald Knuth
Computer Science is not about computers. It is about the kind of complex systems that we are. – Marvin Minsky
Catalog Description:
Lecture and computer laboratory six hours. This course is an intimate exploration of the theories,
philosophies, epistemologies and aesthetics behind the simulated and artificial worlds that
comprise the advanced computational research specialties in the sciences, humanities and arts.
We will investigate the search for common processes giving rise to both natural and artificial
evolution, computation, complexity, self-organization, multiple agency and emergence as they are
understood by practitioners in the physical, biological and social sciences, the humanities, and
the creative arts. This class emphasizes a close involvement with current literature, software and
visual presentations. Participants will engage each other through in-depth discussions.
Participants will be encouraged to make a detailed investigation of the prospects of computation
in their own fields of interest. They will experiment with pre-programmed artificial worlds and
smaller worlds of their own creation, built graphically in the C++ programming language. Topics
will be drawn from transdisciplinary research. No programming experience required. P/NP or
letter grading.
Grading:
Grading is based upon weekly assignments (50%), class participation (15%), and a final project
(35%).
PART ONE – ARTIFICIAL LIFE, ARTIFICIAL SOCIETIES AND ARTIFICIAL CULTURE.
Week 1
Artificial Life as a Philosophy of Life.
An introduction to programming for the PC.
What computation is all about: a discussion of Danny Hillis’ Pattern in the Stone.
Readings and simulations from: Artificial Life: An Overview
a) Artificial Life as Philosophy. Daniel Dennett. Pp. 291-292.
b) Artificial Life as a Tool for Biological Inquiry. Charles Taylor and David Jefferson. Pp. 114.
c) Why Do We Need Artificial Life? Eric W. Bonabeau and Guy Theraulaz. Pp. 303-326.
Week 2
The Artificial Life of Ecological Systems.
Readings and simulations from: Artificial Life: An Overview
a) Cooperation and Community Structure in Artificial Ecosystems. Kristian Lindgren and
Mats G. Nordahl. Pp. 15-38.
b) Extended Molecular Evolutionary Biology: Artificial Life Bridging the Gap Between
Chemistry and Biology. P. Schuster. Pp. 39-60.
c) Visual Models of Morphogenesis. Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz. Pp. 61-74.
d) Levels of Functional Equivalence in Reverse Bioengineering. Steven Harnad. Pp. 293302.
Week 3
The Trajectory towards Artificial Societies and Artificial Cultures.
Readings and simulations from: Artificial Life: An Overview
a) The Artificial Life Roots of Artificial Intelligence. Luc Steels. Pp. 75-110.
b) Toward Synthesizing Artificial Neural Networks that Exhibit Cooperative Intelligent
Behavior: Some Open Issues in Artificial Life. Michael Dyer. Pp. 111-134.
c) Modeling Adaptive Autonomous Agents. Pattie Maes. Pp. 135-162.
Artificial Societies and beyond: a discussion of Axtell & Epstein’s Growing Artificial Societies.
Week 4
Computational Methods of Artificial Life.
Readings and simulations from: Artificial Life: An Overview
a) An Evolutionary Approach to Synthetic Biology: Zen and the Art of Creating Life. Thomas
S. Ray. Pp. 179-210.
b) Genetic Algorithms and Artificial Life. Melanie Mitchell and Stephanie Forrest. Pp. 267290.
c) Beyond Digital Naturalism. Walter Fontana, Gunter Wagner, and Leo W. Buss. Pp. 211228.
d) Learning About Life. Mitchel Resnick. Pp. 229-243.
Week 5
Artificial Life: Advanced Topics.
Readings and simulations from: Artificial Life: An Overview
a) Books on Artificial Life and Related Topics. David G. Stork. Pp. 243-248.
b) Computer Viruses as Artificial Life. Eugene H. Spafford. Pp. 249-266.
c) Chaos as a Source of Complexity and Diversity in Evolution. Kunihiko Kaneko. Pp. 163178.
Epistemological issues: How virtual is reality? Simulations and simulacra.
Nested representations: a discussion of Josef Rusnak’s The Thirteenth Floor.
Where are Artificial Worlds leading us?
PART TWO – ART, AESTHETICS AND EVOLUTIONARY DESIGN.
Week 6
Evolution and Design as Creative Agents.
Screening: Collected works of Karl Sims.
Readings and simulations from: Evolutionary Design by Computers
a) An Introduction to Evolutionary Design by Computers. Peter Bentley. Pp. 1-74.
b) Section I: Evolution and Design. Pp. 75-76.
c) The Interplay of Evolution and Insight in Design. Michael French. Pp. 77-90.
d) The Memetics of Design. Derek Gatherer. Pp. 91-104.
e) The Race, the Hurdle, and the Sweet Spot. David Goldberg. Pp. 105-118.
f) Exploring the Design Potential of Evolutionary Search, Exploration and Optimisation. Ian
Parmee. Pp. 119-144.
Week 7
Evolutionary Computation – Optimization or Equilibrium?
Readings and simulations from: Evolutionary Design by Computers
a) Section 2: Evolutionary Optimisation of Designs.
b) Optimisation in Mechanical Design. Gordon Robinson, Mohammed El-Beltagy and Andy
Keane. Pp. 147-166.
c) The Optimisation of Flywheels using an Injection Island Genetic Algorithm. David Eby,
R.C. Averill, William F. Punch III, and Erik D. Goodman. Pp. 167-190.
d) A GA-based Approach to Reliability Design. Mitsuo Gen and Jong Ryul Kim. Pp. 191218.
Week 8
Evolutionary Art and Design.
Readings and simulations from: Evolutionary Design by Computers
a) Section 3: Evolutionary Art. Pp. 219.220.
b) The Mutation and Growth of Art by Computers. Stephen Todd and William Latham. Pp.
221-250.
c) Evolving Genetic Art. Michael Witbrock and Scott Neil-Reilly. Pp. 251-260.
d) Evolutionary Art and Form. Andrew Rowbottom. PP. 261-278.
Week 9
The Evolution of Life as it Could Be.
Readings and simulations from: Evolutionary Design by Computers
a) Section 4: Evolutionary Artificial Life Forms. Pp. 279-280.
b) Artificial Embryology and Cellular Differentiation. Pp. 281-296.
c) Evolving Three-Dimensional Morphology and Behavior. Karl Sims. Pp. 297-322.
d) Exploring Three-Dimensional Design Worlds using Lindenmayer Systems and Genetic
Programming. Paul Coates, Terence Broughton and Helen Jackson. Pp. 323-342.
Week 10
Creative Computational Processes.
Readings and simulations from: Evolutionary Design by Computers
a) Section 5: Creative Evolutionary Design. Pp. 343-344.
b) Evolving Designs by Generating Useful Complex Gene Structures. Mike Rosenman and
John Gero. Pp. 345-364.
c) The Design of Analogue Circuits by Means of Genetic Programming. John Koza, Forrest
H. Bennett III, David Andre and Martin A. Keane. Pp. 365-386.
d) Computer Evolution of Buildable Objects. Pablo Funes and Jordan Pollack. Pp. 387404.
e) From Coffee Tables to Hospitals: Genetic Evolutionary Design. Peter Bentley. Pp. 405424.
Required Texts:
1. C++ Guide – The Ultimate Guide to C++ A Programming Language. Bar Charts (1998).
A reference for the entire course, review it in week one.
2. The Pattern on the Stone – The Simple Ideas that Make Computers Work, by Danny
Hillis. Basic Books, New York (1998). An easy and enjoyable read for week one.
3. Artificial Life – An Overview, edited by Christopher Langton. MIT Press, Cambridge
(1995). Weekly readings and discussions.
4. Evolutionary Design by Computers, edited by Peter Bentley. Morgan Kaufmann, San
Francisco (1999). Weekly readings and discussions.
5. The Computational Beauty of Nature – Computer Exploration of Fractals, Chaos,
Complex Systems, and Adaptation, by Gary William Flake. MIT Press, Cambridge
(1999). To be read in conjunction with programming examples.
Selections from Some of the Following Publications:
1. Thinking in C++: Introduction to Standard C++, Volume One by Bruce Eckel. PrenticeHall, 2000.
2. Powers of Ten – About the Relative Size of Things in the Universe by Philip and Phylis
Morrison and the Office of Charles and Ray Eames. Scientific American Library, New
York (1982).
3. A Computer Perspective – Background to the Computer Age, by the office of Charles and
Ray Eames. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (1990).
4. Growing Artificial Societies – Social Science from the Bottom Up, by Joshua Epstein and
Robert Axtell. MIT Press, Cambridge (1996). Read for the overall strategy by week
three.
5. Nicholas Gessler. “A Computationist Manifesto.” Book Review of Growing Artificial
Societies - Social Science from the Bottom Up. Joshua M. Epstein and Robert Axtell.
(MIT Press 1996) Artificial Life 3:3: 237-242 (1997).
6. Nicholas Gessler. "Skeuomorphs and Cultural Algorithms." Evolutionary Programming
VII, Proceedings Of The Seventh International Conference On Evolutionary
Programming. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. Pp. 229-238 (1998).
7. Blondie 24: Playing at the Edge of AI, by David Fogel. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco
(2001).
8. Evolutionary Art and Computers, by Stephen Todd and William Latham. Academic Press,
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, London (1992). Weekly readings and discussions.
9. The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants – The Virtual Laboratory, by Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz
and Aristid Lindenmayer. Springer-Verlag, New York (1990).
10. The Algorithmic Beauty of Sea Shells – The Virtual Laboratory, by Hans Meinhardt,
Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz, and Deborah R. Fowler. Springer-Verlag, New York (1998).
11. The Algorithmic Beauty of Seaweeds, Sponges and Corals (Virtual Laboratory)
by Jaap A. Kaandorp and Janet Kubler. Springer-Verlag, New York (2001).
12. Digital Visions – Computers and Art, by Cynthia Goodman. Harry N. Abrams, New York
(1986).
13. Introduction to Chaos and Coherence, by Jan Frøyland. Institute for Physics Publishing,
Bristol (1992).
14. Turbulent Mirror – An Illustrated Guide to Chaos Theory and the Science of Wholeness,
by John Briggs and David Peat. Harper & Row, New York (1990).
Selections from Some of the Following Videos:
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EIDEA. Robb Lovell, Arizona State University (1998). 9 min.
Works 1990 – 1999. Simon Penny
Evolved Virtual Creatures. Karl Sims, Thinking Machines Corporation (1994). 10 min.
Compilation 1988 – 1992. Karl Sims, Thinking Machines Corporation (1992). 10 min.
Technosphere – Heads, Bodies, Wheels, Eyes. Jane Prophet and Gordon Selley (1999).
Works in Progress. Steven Rooke. Thermal, California (1998). 24 min.
Digital Forest. Tsukasa Kimezawa. ATR (1998). 60 min.
The Trial – Le Proces – Robotic Performance Demo. Bill Vorn and L.P. Demers (1998).
10 min.
Interactive Robotic Installations 1993-1996. Louis-Philippe Demers and Bill Vorn (1996).
Challenge of Artificial Life. Tom Ray (1998).
Arc Awards. Tom Ray (1995).
Interactive Media Festival. Tom Ray (1997).
Artificial Life Animation. Jeffrey Ventrella.
Synthetic Sentience as a Strategic Resource. Charles Ostman, SFSU (1997), 48 min.
Braitenberg Creatures. Epistemology & Learning Group, MIT Media Lab (1990).
Artificial Life. VPRO, Amsterdam (1995). 90 min.
Artificial Fishes. Demetri Terzopoulos, University of Toronto (19??). 12 min.
18. Artificial Life II – Video Proceedings. Chris Langton, ed. Santa Fe Institute (1992). 120
min.
19. Robofest. Osaka (2001).
20. Bomb. Scott Draves. (1998). 120 min.
21. Primordian Yearnings. Steven Rooke. Thermal, California (1997). 8 min.
Web Resources:
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The Temple of Alife http://alife.fusebox.com/
Karl Sims Home Page http://genarts.com/karl/
The Evolutionary Art of Steven Rooke http://www.azstarnet.com/~srooke/
The Art and Aesthetics of Artificial Life http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/gessler/artshow/
Topical Index http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/geog/gessler/167-2001/index-topical.htm
Acknowledgements:
We are grateful for the enthusiastic support from:
Borland, makers of Borland C++ Builder 5.
David Berneda, author of teeChart Pro.
Claus Ziegler, author of ZeiglerCollection One.
Gary William Flake, author of The Computational Beauty of Nature.
Note:
Details of this syllabus may be changed to accommodate new publications, research, events, opportunities for enrichment
and the experience and interests of the participants.