Computers and Evolution

Transcript: Computers have informed us about evolution in two fundamental ways. First, the power of computers has been used to model evolution. It’s possible to create life in a computer in a sense. So-called genetic algorithms can be used to mimic the processes by which life may have begun on Earth. This is of course not a true simulation of wet or biochemical life, but it's a computer representation. The insight from these models is substantial though because it shows that with simple ingredients and interactions complexity, self-organization, and highly complex networks of activity can naturally evolve. These might be chemicals, but they also might be the precursors for intelligence if such a thing happened in an electrical network, like a brain. The second way that computers have informed us about evolution is of course in their ability to mimic the high level human functions of the brain. Artificial intelligence to many has been a disappointment in the last few decades because there is no computer that can think like a person. Many people were shocked when a computer finally beat the chess master of the world. However, in a sense this was a simple trick of pure computational power. Computers cannot yet mimic the complex brain function, but a projection of Moore’s law shows that within a few decades they might. And at that point we will have the first signs of whether artificial life is possible.