Estimating the energy cost of (artificial) evolution

Winfield, Alan F.T.

Abstract

This short discussion paper sets out to explore the question: what is the energy cost of evolving complex artificial life? The paper takes an unconventional approach by first estimating the energy cost of natural evolution and, in particular, the species Homo Sapiens Sapiens. The paper argues that such an estimate has value because it forces us to think about the energy costs of co-evolution, and hence the energy costs of evolving complexity. Furthermore, an analysis of the real energy costs of evolving virtual creatures in a virtual environment, leads the paper to suggest an artificial life equivalent of Kleiber's law - relating neural and synaptic complexity (instead of mass) to computational energy cost (instead of real energy consumption). An underlying motivation for this paper is to counter the view that artificial evolution will facilitate the technological singularity, by arguing that the energy costs are likely to be prohibitively high. The paper concludes by arguing that the huge energy cost is not the only problem. In addition we will require a new approach to artificial evolution in which we construct complex scaffolds of co-evolving artificial creatures and ecosystems.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Fourteenth International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems
• Start Date: Jul 31, 2014
• End Date: Aug 2, 2014
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 6, 2019
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 872-875
• Book Title: Artificial Life 14: Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.7551/978-0-262-32621-6-ch143
• Keywords: robotics, energy, evolution, artificial Life
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/815578
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7551/978-0-262-32621-6-ch143
• Related Public URLs: http://www.alanwinfield.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/estimating-energy-cost-of-evolution.html; http://blogs.cornell.edu/alife14nyc/proceedings/
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : Artificial Life 14: 14th International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems