Abstract
We investigate the evolutionary processes behind the development and optimization of multiple threads of execution in digital organisms using the avida platform, a software package that implements Darwinian evolution on populations of self-replicating computer programs. The system is seeded with a linearly executed ancestor capable only of reproducing its own genome, whereas its underlying language has the capacity for multiple threads of execution (i.e., simultaneous expression of sections of the genome.) We witness the evolution to multithreaded organisms and track the development of distinct expression patterns. Additionally, we examine both the evolvability of multithreaded organisms and the level of thread differentiation as a function of environmental complexity, and find that differentiation is more pronounced in complex environments.
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© 1999 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Ofria, C., Adami, C., Collier, T.C., Hsu, G.K. (1999). Evolution of Differentiated Expression Patterns in Digital Organisms. In: Floreano, D., Nicoud, JD., Mondada, F. (eds) Advances in Artificial Life. ECAL 1999. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 1674. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48304-7_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48304-7_19
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-66452-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-48304-5
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