Artificial Life 8, Sydney, December 2002

Self-Assembling

Dynamical Hierarchies

 

Alan Dorin & Jon McCormack

http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~{aland, jonmc}

Centre for Electronic Media Art
School of Computer Science & Software Engineering
Monash University, Melbourne, Australia


Outline

  • Motivation

  • Previous work

  • The model
  • Hierarchies

  • Properties

  • Questions




Motivation

  • emergent property
  • dynamical hierarchy

 


Previous work


The model



A screen grab is available from software which runs this model (using squares).


Some sample structures






Hierarchies

Division/Nested hierarchy

 

A different hierarchy
(Differently shaped at each level)


As well as this hierarchy seen earlier,

 

This is also a hierarchy,

 

 

 


Measuring & Comparing Hierarchies

 


Consider a structure X of order n, written Xn.

 

But...


So, for n levels, Xn can be specified hierarchically in: p*4*(n-1) bits.

 

Since...

The hierarchical description is measurably more efficient than the non-hierarchical one.


Properties

Properties are observed by people.

 

In a simulation, properties may be distinguished where the machine has states to represent them.

 


Trivial Properties in the Model

Each level in the hierarchy has a property not found at lower levels.

This sounds like Bedau's "Nominal Emergence".

 

Not So Trivial Properties in the Model


We have built an infinitely-levelled dynamical hierarchy which exhibits emergent properties at each level and has base units of fixed complexity!

 

So why are we not excited?


 

The Artificial Life mantra:

 

 

"We seek interesting behaviour"

 


 

Multiple-levels of trivial behaviour may produce a level of interesting behaviour.

 

Perhaps the stuff of our simulations is just too boring to ever produce anything interesting.


Questions.

 

Conclusions.

 

The issue hinges on the Artificial Life mantra.



©Copyright Alan Dorin/Animaland 2002