Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!wuarchive!uunet!zephyr.ens.tek.com!tekchips!tekcrl!brucec From: brucec@phoebus.labs.tek.com (Bruce Cohen;;50-662;LP=A;) Newsgroups: comp.theory.cell-automata Subject: Re: RESEND Life Wars, Ants Message-ID: Date: 7 Feb 91 21:35:03 GMT References: <9102041839.AA01139@air.acad> Sender: news@tekchips.LABS.TEK.COM Distribution: inet Organization: Tektronix Inc. Lines: 25 In-reply-to: rudy@air.UUCP's message of 4 Feb 91 18:39:14 GMT In article <9102041839.AA01139@air.acad> rudy@air.UUCP (Rudy Rucker) writes: ... > I think one of the biggest problems at this point is FINDING > SOMETHING INTERESTING FOR THE ANTS TO DO. The idea of having ants > compete against each other is a suggestive game-oriented application, > analagous to Core Wars. But could the ants ever do something of > commercial interest? Designing the circuits for chips and boards is > a possibility that is sometimes mentioned, but, as I think Hiebeler > pointed out, there are already special purpose programs that do this > much more directly and efficiently. Here's a half-baked suggestion: chemical synthesis. One of the big problems in synthesizing even simple organic compounds is that the yield and overall reaction rate of the synthesis is dependent (usually in a non-linear way) on the yields of the intermediate reactions, and often on the yields of other reactions which inhibit the desired one. Seems like the kind of optimization problem which would yield (sorry!) to genetic search. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Speaker-to-managers, aka Bruce Cohen, Computer Research Lab email: brucec@tekchips.labs.tek.com Tektronix Laboratories, Tektronix, Inc. phone: (503)627-5241 M/S 50-662, P.O. Box 500, Beaverton, OR 97077