View source for Biology:Autoconstructive evolution

'''Autoconstructive evolution''' is a process in which the entities undergoing evolutionary change are themselves responsible for the construction of their own offspring and thus for aspects of the evolutionary process itself.  Because biological evolution is always autoconstructive, this term mainly occurs in [[Evolutionary computation|evolutionary computation]], to distinguish [[Artificial life|artificial life]] type systems from conventional genetic algorithms where the GA performs replication artificially.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ekárt|first=Anikó|date=2014-03-01|title=Emergence in genetic programming|journal=Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines|language=en|volume=15|issue=1|pages=83–85|doi=10.1007/s10710-013-9199-4|s2cid=20992086|issn=1389-2576|url=http://publications.aston.ac.uk/20778/1/Emergence_in_genetic_programming.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Julian F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sFJROKdtvC0C&q=Autoconstructive&pg=PA10 |title=Cartesian Genetic Programming  |date=2011 |pages=10 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3642173103}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis|last=Rahim|first=Adzni Abdul|title=A parametric study on reproductive competence in auto-constructive artificial life|date=2008|degree=Masters|publisher=Universiti Malaysia Sabah|url=http://eprints.ums.edu.my/9406/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Proceedings of the Evo20 Workshop, AISB|last1=Ryser-welch|first1=Patricia|last2=Miller|first2=Julian F.|year=2014|chapter=A review of hyper-heuristic frameworks|citeseerx = 10.1.1.563.9564}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Rahim|first1=A. B. Abdul|last2=Teo|first2=J.|last3=Saudi|first3=A.|title=2006 IEEE Conference on Cybernetics and Intelligent Systems |chapter=An Empirical Comparison of Code Size Limit in Auto-Constructive Artificial Life |date=June 2006|pages=1–6|doi=10.1109/ICCIS.2006.252308|isbn=978-1-4244-0022-5|s2cid=17596010}}</ref> The term was coined by Lee Spector.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dqBgks9pksoC&q=Autoconstructive&pg=PA17|title=Genetic Programming Theory and Practice VIII|last1=Spector|first1=Lee|date=2010-10-20|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-1441977472|pages=14–30|chapter=Towards Practical Autoconstructive Evolution: Self-Evolution of Problem-Solving Genetic Programming Systems}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_xvoBwAAQBAJ&q=Autoconstructive&pg=PA71|title=Automatic Quantum Computer Programming: A Genetic Programming Approach|last=Spector|first=Lee|date=2000|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-1402078958|pages=7–72}}</ref><ref name=":1">
{{cite conference |url=http://helios.hampshire.edu/lspector/pubs/ace.pdf |title=Autoconstructive evolution: Push, pushGP, and pushpop|last1=Spector|first1=Lee |date=2001 |publisher=ACM |book-title=Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference |pages=137–146 |location=San Francisco, CA, USA |conference= GECCO }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Spector|first1=Lee|last2=Moscovici|first2=Eva|title=Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion |chapter=Recent developments in autoconstructive evolution |date=2017|series=GECCO '17|location=New York, NY, USA|publisher=ACM|pages=1154–1156|doi=10.1145/3067695.3082058|isbn=9781450349390|s2cid=1968045}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=http://necsi.edu/events/iccs2011/papers/294.pdf|title=Unifying Themes in Complex Systems Volume VIII: Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Complex Systems|last1=Harrington|first1=Kyle|last2=Tosch|first2=Emma|last3=Spector|first3=Lee|last4=Pollack|first4=Jordan|publisher=[[Organization:New England Complex Systems Institute|New England Complex Systems Institute]]|year=2011|isbn=978-0-9656328-4-3|pages=856&ndash;870|chapter=Compositional Autoconstructive Dynamics}}</ref>

== Importance of autoconstructive evolution ==
Autoconstructive evolution is a good platform for answering theoretical questions about the evolution of [[Biology:Evolvability|evolvability]]. Preliminary evidence suggests that the way in which offspring are generated changes substantially over the course of evolution.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Spector|first1=Lee|last2=Moscovici|first2=Eva|title=Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion |chapter=Recent developments in autoconstructive evolution |date=2017|series=GECCO '17|location=New York, NY, USA|publisher=ACM|pages=1154–1156|doi=10.1145/3067695.3082058|isbn=9781450349390|s2cid=1968045}}</ref> By studying these patterns, we can begin to understand how evolving systems organize themselves to evolve faster. Ultimately, such an understanding could allow us to improve our ability to solve problems with [[Evolutionary computation|evolutionary computation]].

This increased ability for the process of self-replication to evolve is also thought to be important for recreating the open-ended evolutionary process observed on earth<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Taylor|first1=Tim|last2=Bedau|first2=Mark|last3=Channon|first3=Alastair|last4=Ackley|first4=David|last5=Banzhaf|first5=Wolfgang|last6=Beslon|first6=Guillaume|last7=Dolson|first7=Emily|last8=Froese|first8=Tom|last9=Hickinbotham|first9=Simon|date=2016-07-29|title=Open-Ended Evolution: Perspectives from the OEE Workshop in York|journal=Artificial Life|volume=22|issue=3|pages=408–423|doi=10.1162/ARTL_a_00210|pmid=27472417|s2cid=215715948|issn=1064-5462|url=http://eprints.keele.ac.uk/2127/7/artl_a_00210.pdf}}</ref>

==Examples of autoconstructive evolution==

=== Tierra and Avida ===
A relatively simple form of autoconstruction occurs in systems such as [[Tierra (computer simulation)|Tierra]] and [[Software:Avida|Avida]]. In these systems, programs replicate themselves by allocating space in memory for their offspring and then looping over all of the instructions in their genome and copying each into the newly allocated space.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ofria|first1=Charles|last2=Wilke|first2=Claus O.|date=2004|title=Avida: A Software Platform for Research in Computational Evolutionary Biology|journal=Artificial Life|volume=10|issue=2|pages=191–229|doi=10.1162/106454604773563612|pmid=15107231|issn=1064-5462|citeseerx=10.1.1.211.8981|s2cid=15128560}}</ref> This is autoconstruction in that the programs are responsible for determining what code ends up in the offspring. Programs most commonly make exact copies of themselves, with changes being introduced exclusively through mutation events. In principle, however, programs can compose a wide range of possible offspring by only copying a subset of their genomes.  

=== PushGP ===
PushGP is a [[Genetic programming|genetic programming]] system which evolves code written in the Push language.<ref name=":1" /> Push is a stack-based language designed for easy use in genetic programming, in which every variable type (e.g. strings, integers, etc.) has its own stack. All variables are stored on the stack associated with their type. One of the variable types is executable Push code. As a result, this language design allows for rich autoconstructive evolution by treating all code left on the code stack at the end of program execution as the program's offspring.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Robinson|first1=Alan|last2=Spector|first2=Lee|date=2002-03-01|title=Genetic Programming and Autoconstructive Evolution with the Push Programming Language|journal=Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines|language=en|volume=3|issue=1|pages=7–40|doi=10.1023/A:1014538503543|s2cid=5584377|issn=1573-7632}}</ref> Using this approach, programs have complete control over the offspring programs that they create.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://hampshire.edu/lspector/pubs/ace.pdf Autoconstructive evolution with PushGP and Pushpop]

[[Category:Evolutionary biology]]



{{Sourceattribution|Autoconstructive evolution}}