Maverick forerunner of artificial life and animation remains largely unknown
m.nautil.us
m.nautil.us
The last project (The Evolution of Color) has similarities to the color visualizations described in this post: it uses genetic algorithms to evolve a population of colors towards a fittest color as determined by the closeness of the bits that comprise the colors.
I have a few other projects planned so if you're into this stuff you're welcome to sign up for the mailing list to get notified when they are launched:
http://www.emergentmind.com/newsletter
I'm always open to ideas for new projects so if you have anything you'd like to see implemented or want to work on something together feel free to shoot me a note.
There's a processing 2D virutal creatures model called sticky feet [2] (source available) that perhaps could be ported to js pretty quickly.
http://www.amazon.com/Artificial-Life-Frontier-Computers-Bio...
It's slightly dated, but I thought it was a really good introduction.
Somehow I thought symbiosis and cooperation was the accepted model, and competition was just a cultural projection. No?
For example, researchers like Gould stress non-competitive forces like the role of historical contingency, and exaptation [0]. Margulis, who was mentioned in the article, had a theory that much complexity in cells was accumulated through symbiosis -- a theory that was radical when first introduced but was later validated [1]. In effect, one cell would engulf another, but instead of eating the other cell, they would co-evolve together; for example, the mitochondria (cellular power plant) is thought to have arisen from such an event (it has its own DNA).
[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exaptation
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Margulis#Endosymbiosis_the...
Dawkins model(not his actually but he presented to general public) was not competition-centric. Main idea was gene centric view of life. Competition, cooperation, symbiosis etc all were explained from the genes point of view. The thing to note is, even when we see apparent 'cooperation' between species, at the genes level there is a competition with other gene pools. So the non-competitive forces look so on the surface, but the only thing genes care about is moving on to the next generations and spreading as much copies as possible even if that happens with symbiosis.
Gould on the other hand, was not happy with this selfish view of life(everyone says he had Marxist ideologies which made him a bit bias). He thought of selection as happening at multiple levels, not just limited at genes but also species and individual. This was the main controversy between him and dawkins.
So, to reply to GPs query, yes that quote is sort of incorrect since everyone agreed that cooperation and symbiosis(Darwin too) are very much part of evolution.
This is the kind of content I love HN for. This is good stuff. I'm looking forward to looking up some of Barricelli's work and reading up on it.
Thank you, ayberkt, for submitting this.
Also, from the "scientists a lot of people have not heard of, but probably should have" department, I offer Ilya Prigogine. Probably not as obscure as Barricelli, but I haven't found a lot of people know much about Prigogine.