Verification of Text Transcription History by Using Evolutionary Algorithms

Abstract

The application of ALife methods to the field of historical document genealogy is reported. At first, the conventional analytical approaches to Greek and Latin text transcription history are described and the problems associated with them are discussed. Next, focusing on the similarities between text transcription history and the Tierra system, we propose the use of evolutionary algorithms for the verification of text transcription genealogies with the purposes of breaking through the limitations of conventional analysis of Greek and Latin text transcription history and increasing the reliability of those methods. In this report, as the first step, we deal only with the mutations involved in copying, and attempt to make use of them in the verification of genealogy. We conducte computer simulation experiments based on existing manuscript data and demonstrate the feasibility of effectively using evolutionary algorithms as one means of verifying the currently proposed Greek and Latin text genealogies.