In a comment at Uncommon Descent I expressed the thought that evolutionary algorithms are still used in mainstream science to explore ideas. I noted Tierra as one example. Other commenters suggested it has fallen into disuse.
I wonder if anyone here still uses Tierra or another computer simulation (or knows someone who does). I’m grateful for any feedback. Thanks.
Haven’t used tierra for ages. (Though now I’m tempted to). Avida is more recent, albeit also years old. Modern evolution simulators tend to be aimed at specific problems rather than just survival, and few of them have ‘organisms’ capable of self-reproduction.
Tierra isn’t really a genetic algorithm, more a simulation.
I’m not au fait with computing parlance, I’m afraid. I thought one category might nest in or overlap with another. But thanks for the reply. Somewhere (or I imagined it) I got the impression AVIDA had been misused by someone in the ID camp. Winston Ewert?
Both Tierra and Avida gave been misused, though I can’t remember who by. You should be able to find out by looking through the articles in bio-complexity.
IIRC their article about Tierra was written without ever having run it.