Symbiosis, Complexification and Simplicity under GP ∗

Models of Genetic Programming (GP) frequently reflect a neo-Darwinian view to evolution in which inheritance is based on a process of gradual refinement and the resulting solutions take the form of single monolithic programs. Conversely, introducing an explicitly symbiotic model of inheritance makes a divide-and-conquer metaphor for problem decomposition central to evolution. Benchmarking gradualist versus symbiotic models of evolution under a common evolutionary framework illustrates that not only does symbiosis result in more accurate solutions, but the solutions are also much simpler in terms of instruction and attribute count over a wide range of classification problem domains.