Emergent Dynamics in Heterogeneous Life-Like Cellular Automata

TL;DR

This paper introduces a heterogeneous, evolving cellular automaton with aging, enabling long-term dynamic behaviors and phenotypic diversity, extending the classic Game of Life with mutation and evolution mechanisms.

Contribution

It presents a novel extension of the Game of Life by incorporating local mutations, aging, and an evolutionary loop to foster open-ended, long-term phenotypic dynamics.

Findings

Identified parameters that produce sustained phenotypic diversity

Demonstrated the emergence of genotypic innovations

Enabled long-term dynamic behaviors in cellular automata

Abstract

The Game of Life (GoL), one well known 2D cellular automaton, does not typically ensure interesting long-term phenotypic dynamics. Therefore, while being Turing complete, GoL cannot be said to be open-ended. In this work, we extend GoL with the opportunity for local mutations, thus enabling a heterogeneous life-like cellular automaton guided by an evolutionary inner loop. Additionally, we introduce the concept of cell ageing to ensure that cell aliveness (activated by inheritance with variation, and controlled by ageing) and actual cell computation (governed by life-like rules on local neighborhoods) are kept conceptually separated. We conduct an experimental campaign to identify suitable parameters that produce long-term phenotypic dynamics and favor genotypic innovations.