Filterscape: energy recycling in a creative ecosystem

This paper extends previous work in evolutionary ecosystemic approaches to generative art. Filterscape, adopts the implicit fitness specification that is fundamental to this approach and explores the use of resource recycling as a means of generating coherent sonic diversity in a generative sound work. Filterscape agents consume and deposit energy that is manifest in the simulation as sound. Resource recycling is shown to support cooperative as well as competitive survival strategies. In the context of our simulation, these strategies are recognised by their characteristic audible signatures. The model provides a novel means to generate sonic diversity through de-centralised agent interactions

Lenia and Expanded Universe

We report experimental extensions of Lenia, a continuous cellular automata family capable of producing lifelike self-organizing autonomous patterns. The rule of Lenia was generalized into higher dimensions, multiple kernels, and multiple channels. The final architecture approaches what can be seen as a recurrent convolutional neural network. Using semi-automatic search e.g. genetic algorithm, we discovered new phenomena like polyhedral symmetries, individuality, self-replication, emission, growth by ingestion, and saw the emergence of "virtual eukaryotes" that possess internal division of labor and type differentiation. We discuss the results in the contexts of biology, artificial life, and artificial intelligence.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 1 table; submitted to ALIFE 2020 conferenc

Urban Evolution: The Role of Water

The structure, function, and services of urban ecosystems evolve over time scales from seconds to centuries as Earth’s population grows, infrastructure ages, and sociopolitical values alter them. In order to systematically study changes over time, the concept of “urban evolution” was proposed. It allows urban planning, management, and restoration to move beyond reactive management to predictive management based on past observations of consistent patterns. Here, we define and review a glossary of core concepts for studying urban evolution, which includes the mechanisms of urban selective pressure and urban adaptation. Urban selective pressure is an environmental or societal driver contributing to urban adaptation. Urban adaptation is thesequential process by which an urban structure, function, or services becomes more fitted to its changing environment or human choices. The role of water is vital to driving urban evolution as demonstrated by historical changes in drainage, sewage flows, hydrologic pulses, and long-term chemistry. In the current paper, we show how hydrologic traits evolve across successive generations of urban ecosystems via shifts in selective pressures and adaptations over time. We explore multiple empirical examples including evolving: (1) urban drainage from stream burial to stormwater management; (2) sewage flows and water quality in response to wastewater treatment; (3) amplification of hydrologic pulses due to the interaction between urbanization and climate variability; and (4) salinization and alkalinization of fresh water due to human inputs and accelerated weathering. Finally, we propose a new conceptual model for the evolution of urban waters from the Industrial Revolution to the present day based on empirical trends and historical information. Ultimately, we propose that water itself is a critical driver of urban evolution that forces urban adaptation, which transforms the structure, function, and services of urban landscapes, waterways, and civilizations over time

Artificial in its own right

Artificial Cells, , Artificial Ecologies, Artificial Intelligence, Bio-Inspired Hardware Systems, Computational Autopoiesis, Computational Biology, Computational Embryology, Computational Evolution, Morphogenesis, Cyborgization, Digital Evolution, Evolvable Hardware, Cyborgs, Mathematical Biology, Nanotechnology, Posthuman, Transhuman

The Faculty Notebook, September 2017

The Faculty Notebook is published periodically by the Office of the Provost at Gettysburg College to bring to the attention of the campus community accomplishments and activities of academic interest. Faculty are encouraged to submit materials for consideration for publication to the Associate Provost for Faculty Development. Copies of this publication are available at the Office of the Provost

40 Years Theory and Model at Wageningen UR

"Theorie en model" zo luidde de titel van de inaugurele rede van CT de Wit (1968). Reden genoeg voor een (theoretische) terugblik op zijn wer

Frontiers of Adaptive Design, Synthetic Biology and Growing Skins for Ephemeral Hybrid Structures

The history of membranes is one of adaptation, from the development in living organisms to man-made versions, with a great variety of uses in temporary design: clothing, building, packaging, etc. Being versatile and simple to integrate, membranes have a strong sustainability potential, through an essential use of material resources and multifunctional design, representing one of the purest cases where “design follows function.” The introduction of new engineered materials and techniques, combined with a growing interest for Nature-inspired technologies are progressively merging man-made artifacts and biological processes with a high potential for innovation. This chapter introduces, through a number of examples, the broad variety of hybrid membranes in the contest of experimental Design, Art and Architecture, categorized following two different stages of biology-inspired approach with the aim of identifying potential developments. Biomimicry, is founded on the adoption of practices from nature in architecture though imitation: solutions are observed on a morphological, structural or procedural level and copied to design everything from nanoscale materials to building technologies. Synthetic biology relies on hybrid procedures mixing natural and synthetic materials and processes

Modelling fungal colonies and communities:challenges and opportunities

This contribution, based on a Special Interest Group session held during IMC9, focuses on physiological based models of filamentous fungal colony growth and interactions. Fungi are known to be an important component of ecosystems, in terms of colony dynamics and interactions within and between trophic levels. We outline some of the essential components necessary to develop a fungal ecology: a mechanistic model of fungal colony growth and interactions, where observed behaviour can be linked to underlying function; a model of how fungi can cooperate at larger scales; and novel techniques for both exploring quantitatively the scales at which fungi operate; and addressing the computational challenges arising from this highly detailed quantification. We also propose a novel application area for fungi which may provide alternate routes for supporting scientific study of colony behaviour. This synthesis offers new potential to explore fungal community dynamics and the impact on ecosystem functioning