A friend of mine has asked me to post the following. You may respond
to my account: deb9 at cunixa.cc.columbia.edu, or by telephone to him
directly.
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For my Electrical Engineering Thesis at the Cooper Union I am doing research
in Artificial Life and creating an Artificial Life program. This program
should be a useful platform for testing a variety of theories on evolution
and ecosystems. The concept for this project is derived from an Artificial
Life program called Tierra created by Dr. Thomas S. Ray of the University
of Delaware.
As I am not allowed to do a purely theoretical project for my thesis.
I must demonstrate that my thesis has practical applications. We do
not have any faculty members who are trained in biology or
evolutionary sciences. Thus, if anyone out there thinks that they
would find the program that I have outlined above useful please let me
know. In addition, if you have particular theories that you you would
like to see tested on this platform I will glad to incorporate them
into my program.
I am also looking for someone with specialized knowledge in biology
or evolution who would be willing to give me advice on developing the
program. I fear that I will not be able to develop an accurate model
for biological evolution from the knowledge I am able to obtain from
book.
Small computer programs written in a special language will reproduce,
mutate, and pass mutations on to their offspring. These `creatures'
compete for computer time and space in memory while trying to avoid
`death'.
The program will run on IBM PCs and compatibles and will be completed in
about 8 months. At that time I will freely distribute it to anyone
interested.
Sincerly,
Lawrence K. Schneider
(516) 692-8388
