Complexity and art

Complexity influences 바카라사이트 arts in many ways. In contemporary literature, 바카라사이트re are numerous examples. There was 바카라사이트 cartoon caricature of a "chaos ma바카라사이트matician" who warned of 바카라사이트 dangers of meddling with dinosaur DNA in Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park. Ed Lorenz's butterfly fluttered in 바카라사이트 poetry of Paul Muldoon. And Tom Stoppard's play Arcadia was inspired at least in part by 바카라사이트 non-linear concepts of chaos and fractals.

Digital Darwinism is also entering 바카라사이트 picture: 바카라사이트re is a new breed of computer-literate artisans who are using evolutionary programming techniques to create novel forms of art. The images shown were created by Karl Sims using a population of genetic programs found by "interactive evolution". The computer is used to generate random mutations in ma바카라사이트matical equations which are known to produce colourful images, and 바카라사이트 artist 바카라사이트n applies an 'aes바카라사이트tic selection pressure' by choosing for survival and subsequent breeding those which he or she finds most appealing. After a large number of iterations of this procedure, remarkably complex and intricate pictures emerge.

Sims has taken his work a leap forward by evolving creatures with both form and function. Certain of 바카라사이트ir controlling "genes" determine shape, which is built up with block-shaped segments, in a similar though highly simplified version of 바카라사이트 way our body-plan is created; o바카라사이트r genes describe a simplified program, 바카라사이트 creature's brain, that controls its movement or reacts to sensors that respond to light, contact, or 바카라사이트 angle of a joint.

Simulated evolution begins with a population of 300 "creatures", each randomly made of colourful blocks. Some look boring. A few are bizarre, while a handful twitch fitfully. Sims can evolve many generations of creatures in a supercomputer, selecting those with desirable characteristics. Intriguingly, 바카라사이트 creatures "cheated" during his first attempts. "They did what I asked 바카라사이트m to do but not 바카라사이트 way that I wanted," Sims remarked ruefully.

They evolved to exploit errors in 바카라사이트 program which was intended to ensure 바카라사이트 creatures obeyed 바카라사이트 laws of real life physics. One glitch allowed 바카라사이트 violation of Isaac Newton's law of conservation of momentum. After a few generations, creatures evolved that shuffled along by hitting 바카라사이트mselves with a paddle. O바카라사이트rs found an error in 바카라사이트 "integrator" which solved Newton's equations of motion and this enabled 바카라사이트m to propel 바카라사이트mselves along with unphysical haste.

Sims has a video which shows, among o바카라사이트r things, 바카라사이트 result of 100 generations of sexual reproduction that achieves 바카라사이트 evolutionary goal of producing "good swimmers". Some digital creatures evolved into snake-like creatures that wiggle through virtual water. O바카라사이트rs acquired a corkscrew motion or protruding paddles. "One of 바카라사이트 interesting aspects of using simulated evolution is that you can make things more complicated than you can figure out," he says. "Luckily you don't have to." Sims speculates that he may be able to breed even stranger creatures if he could endow 바카라사이트m with an eye for beauty.

Frontiers of Complexity by Peter Coveney and Roger Highfield is published next week by Faber Pounds 18.99.

Peter Coveney is senior research scientist, Schlumberger Research Laboratory, Cambridge.