Artificial Life - Sugarscape By Dan Miller

What is meant by being alive? You breathe air? You act independently? Being alive is essentially a matter of patterns and processes

Artificial Life AL researchers look for the distinctive behaviors of living things, and try to create software simulations, that perform these behaviors without being told what to do.

Creating a Simulation First of all the AL researchers need to create an environment for the species to live They need individuals populate it Each individual is built to act independently Rules are needed for them to follow

Question? Do you think humans are to sophisticated to be represented by a computer model? Not really, we spend a lot of time obey rules, rules which can be translated into if- then statements.

Sugarscape -Environment

Sugarscape- Rules Each agent needs so much sugar to live metabollic rates may vary between agents vision and movement rates may vary between agents. Agents act independently

Additional Rules that can be added Combat Storing excess sugar Trade - using two different substances Reproduction Disease Inheritence

Simulations By adding new rules the scientists hope to discover the evolution of societies in the history of the human race.

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