Artificial Life
Beginning of paper
(commonly called a-life) is the term applied
collectively to attempts being made to develop mathematical models and
computer simulations of the ways in which living organisms develop, grow,
and evolve. Researchers in this burgeoning field hope to gain deeper
insights into the nature of organic lif ....
Middle of paper
.... Theoretical studies of a-life, however, had been in progress long before
the 1980s. Most notably, the Hungarian-born U.S. mathematician John VON
NEUMANN, one of the pioneers of computer science, had begun to explore the
nature of very basic a-life formats called cellular automata (see AUTOMATA,
THEORY OF) in the 1950s. Cellular automata are imaginary mathematical
"cells" --analogous to checkerboard squares--that can be made to simulate
physical processes by subjecting them to ce ....
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Page count: 3 (approximately 250 words per page)
