Full-text

URL: ftp://cs.utk.edu/pub/TechReports/1990/ut-cs-90-99.ps.Z

Cached: PDF-431K    PS-11254K    PS.gz-563K

SAVE AS an easy-to-recall long filename:

Filename format: author--year--title   PDF-431K    PS-563K    :: About GZip'd PS

Filename format: author--year--title--journal|proceedings|...--pages   PDF-431K    PS-563K

Related links

CiteSeer: http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/maclennan90evolution.html

Web search: Google Web Search   ::   Google Scholar

Within this site: Cited by (10)    References (10)

Paper at a Glance

Evolution of Communication
in a Population of Simple Machines
CS­90­99
Bruce MacLennan
Department of Computer Science
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996­1301
maclennan@cs.utk.edu
January 1990

Abstract We show that communication may evolve in a population of simple machines that are physically capable of sensing and modifying a shared environment, and for which there is selective pressure in favor of cooperative behavior. The emergence of communication was detected by comparing simulations in which communication was permitted with those in which it was suppressed. When communication was not suppressed we found that at the end of the experiment the average fitness of the population was 84% higher and had increased at a rate 30 times faster than when communication was suppressed. Furthermore, when communication was suppressed, the statistical association of symbols with situ­ ations was random, as is expected. In contrast, permitting communication led to very structured associations of symbols and situations, as determined by a variety of measures (e.g., coefficient of variation and entropy). Inspection of the structure of individual highly fit machines confirmed the statistical structure. We also investigated a simple kind of learning. This did not help when commu­ nication was suppressed, but when communication was permitted the resulting fitness was 845% higher and increased at a rate 80 times as fast as when it was suppressed. We argue that the experiments described here show a new way to investigate the emergence of communication, its function in populations of simple machines, and the structure of the resulting symbol systems.
1  1 Introduction 1.1 Investigating Communication What is communication? How can it emerge by natural selection? What form will it take? What are the factors that influence its emergence or form? How do signs come to have meaning? These are some of the questions to which this investigation is addressed. We believe that these ...

@techreport{maclennan90evolutionOf,
  author={Bruce MacLennan},
  title={Evolution of Communication in a Population of Simple Machines},
  year={1990},
  month={January},
  institution={University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Department of Computer Science},
  note={For appendices - including simulation program - see author's publication page},
  url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/maclennan90evolutionOf.html}
}

HOME   ::  Technical Report List   ::   Technical Report	Comments to: junwang4 you-know-at gmail.com	Last update: 2/2/08