(c) John, Rekesh 2004-2008. No part of this work may be copied or reproduced without the author's permission
11. Tree of Knowledge (Part 2)
“Not really!” laughed Robert. “That’s just a figure of speech. It is just that I take them in pairs and create a new generation from each pair. For this, I apply a random cross-over of their genetic information so that the new creatures would have characteristics of both their so-called parents. During this process I also introduce some random mutations into their genes, much like biological reproduction.”
“I see. So you destroy a world and then repopulate it with a new generation! Reminds me of Noah’s flood. But why do you need to destroy those worlds?”
“Without death, there is no evolution. Perhaps you can liken it to Noah’s flood, or whatever you’d like to call it. I consider all those creatures as representing a single species and I need to visit them with death so that the better ones get to survive and reproduce and finally get smart enough to distinguish the snakes and birds properly.” Robert paused, then laughed and continued, “Those who choose to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil must be visited by death. Of course, there is no death in one sense, for the genes continue on.”
“What do you mean, without death there is no evolution?”
“Well, without some way to select the better adapted ones for reproduction, a species cannot improve. In nature, selection comes about through death, where the lesser fit are taken out of the game. The term we use for this is ‘selective pressure’, where the environment forces the species to evolve certain characteristics, under the threat of death.”
“Amazing!” she breathed. “So you are saying that you evolved intelligence from nothing? That these creatures, simply through evolution, discovered the true nature of the birds and the snakes, and even the alliance between them?”
“I call it instinct rather than intelligence,” replied Robert. “Intelligence, as you call it, is lost with death. Instinct has roots within the genes and thus survives across generations. These critters are wired to behave as their genes dictate. Evolution over many generations created successful behavioral patterns that let them survive better in my world.”
“So they recognize red birds instinctively?”
“Yes. Many of these critters are wired such that when they sense a red bird, it is considered dangerous, and a green snake, benevolent. So what you see is the development of innate knowledge of the environment and about creatures and patterns that exist there. That is instinct.”
“But how do they know that they should go towards the light?” asked Aliyah.
“That’s a good question. First of all, they do not know, but they have this built-in drive given by their evolution. In natural selection it is the environment that dictates whether a creature is fit or not. Here, I make the decision, which is essentially saying that I want them to learn to distinguish between what might be called the right choices and wrong choices, even in cases where the patterns are not obvious. It is my definition of their fitness, for I am God in this world.”
“Wow! That’s fantastic!” Aliyah exclaimed as she mulled over this piece of information. “You mentioned genes. What are theirs made of?”
“Oh, their ‘genes’ are computer instructions to do various tasks, like move around, sense what is ahead, compare sensory input with something in memory and so on. Somewhat like a robot. When I started the simulation, they all had random instructions in their genes, meaning they did nonsensical things, like moving backward, going round and round, oscillating, or not moving at all. There was little coherent behavior. They had no idea about birds or snakes. But all I had to do was pick the survivors for reproduction and start again.”
“Hmm... but why don’t you let the snakes kill those that failed, instead of keeping them till the end of their world?”
“Well, I chose to do so because there might yet be redeeming instructions within an apparently failing creature’s genes that might cause it to tumble back into the light. You see, each creature is quite unique, and the instructions it carries may have all sorts of complexities. So I deemed it fit that I let the so-called weeds grow along with my crops. After my harvest, those that are still found to be weeds are,” Robert paused and grinned, “cast into the fire!”
“But you said that the original ancestors could only move about a few steps towards the light. So how did they survive the destruction of their world?”
“Ah! That was an act of providence! My computer program looked into the initial populations and found the ones that had made some rudimentary progress, like a few steps towards the light. They were transported to safety before their world was destroyed. I had to lower the bar there; otherwise there was no hope of getting them ultimately to where I wanted. But as soon as the first creature made it to the light, there was no longer any such need, for I was sure that many of their descendants would follow suit.”
“I see. So how would those of the later generations compare with the older ones who managed to reach the light?”
“In general you can say that the later generations do better, because they have better adapted. But it is also quite possible to backslide across generations, specifically due to the genetic cross-over and mutations resulting in an un-learning. Also my choice to keep the degenerate ones until the end of their world can also affect the gene pool adversely, because many of them that barely made it through would pass on unwanted genes as well. Now if you were to place individuals from a much older generation along with the ones you’ve just seen and run my world again, you can truly say that many that were first shall be last, and many that were last shall be first,” laughed Robert.
Aliyah thought about that. Then she had another question,“Did these creatures change their appearance, create new species, for example?”
“Oh, not in this simulation. The selection pressure that I exerted was towards reaching the horizon where the light is, and how well they recognized and tackled the hurdles on the way. The focus here is on their behavior, not physical appearance.”
Theo intervened to add to the discussion, “But other researchers have done computer simulations where they focused on bodily structures. And they evolved creatures with long legs for walking, fins and paddle-like structures for swimming and so on; all with Darwinian selection of course.”
“Yes!” added Robert, “and then there are other simulations where parasites appear automatically through mutation. Then follows a kind of evolutionary arms-race where the creatures and the parasites try to outwit each other, co-evolving all kinds of strategies. Yup, there are many interesting results from research in this field. Similar techniques are also used to discover solutions to engineering problems.”
Aliyah found the last statement highly interesting.
“Solutions to engineering problems? Do you mean to say that evolution is a mechanism that finds solutions to problems?”
“Well, that is a dangerous statement,” replied Robert, “It is true that evolution through variation and selection is a valid scientific method of finding solutions to a given problem. But that is possible only if there is a way of evaluating a solution for its merit, like ten percent correct, fifty percent correct, ninety percent correct and so on. This can be used to create a selective pressure to move towards a hundred-percent-correct solution. In my worlds, I could rank my creatures based on their ability to move towards the light and how well they recognized and avoided pitfalls.”