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from the no-way-to-charge-the-batteries-is-a-robot-disaster dept.
A computer science team at The University of Texas at Austin has found that robots evolve more quickly and efficiently after a virtual mass extinction modeled after real-life disasters such as the one that killed off the dinosaurs. Beyond its implications for artificial intelligence, the research supports the idea that mass extinctions actually speed up evolution by unleashing new creativity in adaptations.
Computer scientists Risto Miikkulainen and Joel Lehman co-authored the study published today in the journal PLOS One, which describes how simulations of mass extinctions promote novel features and abilities in surviving lineages.
"Focused destruction can lead to surprising outcomes," said Miikkulainen, a professor of computer science at UT Austin. "Sometimes you have to develop something that seems objectively worse in order to develop the tools you need to get better."
The original article from Science Daily.
The original source from The University of Texas.
The abstract of the study published in PLOS One.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Hyperturtle on Thursday August 13 2015, @05:35PM
We have already done this; it's part of the reason as to why we have antibiotic resistant bacteria killing off people.
I imagine it won't be long that the humans that don't get infected will survive and spread out and adapt to new places where there is suddenly less competition, but it may be another stone age for the aforementioned "creativity" to get expressed within. Those zombie/bacterium apocalypse movies generally do not show bustling economies; they show people scavenging what's left while trying to avoid the plague that they can't stop nor keep held back.
The bacteria will flourish, I am sure, after we lose the capability to make new antibiotics while exploring our new niche...
(Score: 2) by mr_mischief on Thursday August 13 2015, @08:49PM
Not only have we accidentally done this, and not only has it happened naturally many times before, but sometimes we do so purposefully. There are many places in the world where an introduced species has become radically invasive. We're trying to kill off the Asian carp in the US so many other species can re-fill the niche it's taking over. There are places where we're trying to eradicate mosquitos or certain species of mosquitos knowing that other insects that aren't as harmful to humans will fill that part of the food chain.
Sometimes we only do the refilling part on purpose. We commercialized a particular type of banana which then died due to a natural epidemic, so we filled the niche of commercially grown bananas with a new cultivar.