Evolvability in Biology, Artifacts, and
Software Systems
Chrystopher L. Nehaniv
1 Faculty of Engineering & Information Sciences
University
of Hertfordshire
Hatfield, Herts AL10 9AB U.K.
C.L.Nehaniv@herts.ac.uk http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/nehaniv
Abstract:
Issues of evolvability make sense not only for biological and
evolutionary computation systems, but also in the realms of
artifacts, culture, and software systems. Persistence through
time with variation while possibly spreading is an analogue
to variation with heritability. Thus discrete individual
replicators are not strictly necessary for an evolutionary
dynamic to take place. Studying identified properties that give
biological and artifact evolution the capacity to produce
complex adaptive variation could shed light on how
to enhance the evolvability of software systems in general
and of evolutionary computation in particular. Evolution and
evolvability can be compared in different domains.
nehaniv