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canopic jug writes:

AI researchers from 34 institutions have compiled 27 examples of ways in which digital evolution produces surprising and creative solutions. They also make the case that such surprise is the rule rather than the exception. These 27 are just a small subset of what are for now amusing anecdotes and for every story they received or heard, there are likely to be many others that have been already forgotten as researchers retire.

The process of evolution is an algorithmic process that transcends the substrate in which it occurs. Indeed, many researchers in the field of digital evolution can provide examples of how their evolving algorithms and organisms have creatively subverted their expectations or intentions, exposed unrecognized bugs in their code, produced unexpectedly adaptations, or engaged in behaviors and outcomes uncannily convergent with ones found in nature. Such stories routinely reveal surprise and creativity by evolution in these digital worlds, but they rarely fit into the standard scientific narrative.

[...] One obstacle to their dissemination is that such unexpected results often result from evolution thwarting a researcher's intentions: by exploiting a bug in the code, by optimizing an uninteresting feature, or by failing to answer the intended research question. That is, such behavior is often viewed as a frustrating distraction, rather than a phenomenon of scientific interest. Additionally, surprise is subjective and thus fits poorly with the objective language and narrative expected in scientific publications. As a result, most anecdotes have been spread only through word of mouth, providing laughs and discussion in research groups, at conferences, and as comic relief during talks. But such communications fail to inform the field as a whole in a lasting and stable way.

Limited to the lab, the examples given are currently either humorous or intriguing or both. Those outside of AI work and, maybe some inside it, forget the completely alien nature of the algorithms and their ability to deliver exactly what was asked of them. These examples help illustrate that nature.

From Arxiv.org : The Surprising Creativity of Digital Evolution: A Collection of Anecdotes from the Evolutionary Computation and Artificial Life Research Communities

Original Submission