Guideless Artificial Life Model for Reproduction, Development, and Interactions

Abstract

Reproduction, development, and individual interactions are vital yet complex natural processes. Tierra (an ALife model proposed by Thomas Ray) and cellular automata, which can manage these aspects in a complex manner, are significantly limited in their ability to express morphology and behavior. In contrast, the virtual creatures proposed by Karl Sims have a considerably higher degree of freedom in terms of morphology and behavior. However, they also exhibit a limited capacity for processes like reproduction, development, and individual interactions. In addition, they employ genetic algorithms, which can result in a loss of biological diversity, as their implementation necessitates predefining a fitness function. Contrarily, the evolution of natural life is determined by mutation and natural selection, rather than by a human-defined fitness function. This study carefully extracts the characteristics of these models to propose a new Artificial Life model that can simulate reproduction, development, and individual interactions while exhibiting a high expressive power for morphology and behavior. The model is based on the concept of incorporating Tierra and cellular automata mechanisms into a cell that moves freely in 3-D space. In this model, no predefined fitness function or form that qualifies as a living creature exists. In other words, this approach can be rephrased as searching for persistent patterns, which is similar to the approach of Conway’s Game of Life. The primary objective of this study was to conduct a proof-of-concept demonstration to showcase the capabilities of this model. Guideless simulation by the proposed model using mutation and natural selection resulted in the formation of two types of creatures—dumbbell shaped and reticulated. These creatures exhibit intriguing features, exploiting the degrees of freedom inherent to the proposed model. Particularly noteworthy is their unique method of reproduction, which bears a striking resemblance to that of real organisms. These results reinforce the potential of this approach in modeling intricate processes observed in actual organisms and its ability to generate virtual creatures with intriguing ecologies.