Reading Assignment

• Dawkins, R. (1988). The Evolution of Evolvability. In C. Langton (Ed.). Artificial Life (pp. 201-220). Redwood City: Addison-Wesley.
  
  
• Bedau, M. & Seymour, R. (1994). Adaptation of Mutation Rates in a Simple Model of Evolution. In Stonier, R. & Yu, X. (Eds.). Complex Systems: Mechanisms of Adaptation (pp. 37-44). Amsterdam, IOS Press.

Related Web Sites

Biomorph Viewer 1.1: An applet that will let you play with Biomorphs similar to those described in the Dawkins paper. There is a control that allows you to manually adjust each of the nine genes of an individual biomorph.



Blind Watchmaker Applet: Another applet that lets you play with Biomorphs similar to those described in the Dawkins paper. This applet seems to demonstrate mutations not only within the genetic system but also to the genetic system (e.g. a move from segmentation only to segmentation and branching with bilateral symmetry after some generations.)