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COGS260-W07 Adaptive Dynamics
Adaptive Dynamics
Richard K. Belew
COGS260 - Winter 2007
CSB272
Discussion / Wiki
This seminar will review recent attempts to characterize the dynamic phenomena of many biological systems, theoretically and computationally. That's a brave goal, but happily new progress towards it has been recently captured in an accessible new book by Martin Nowak, Evolutionary Dynamics [Belknap/Harvard, 2006] (available at GroundWork Books Collective). This text will get us launched into consideration of the chronologically first and perhaps still dominant form of adaptation on our planet, evolution. But maturation, learning and culture all also count as good examples of adaptation. Each will be considered, separately, but also in terms of how each interacts with the others. The obvious dimension connecting all of them is time: the dynamics by which each system changes its state as it interacts within the world around it.
Covering so much ground means we will have to be quick and use careful language. I am a computer scientist, and so propose to use simple programs to simulate key dynamics. Several other recent developments, BioJava and Matlab's Genetic Algorithm and Direct Search Toolbox provide rich, computationally solid languages from two very different communities and purposes, within which many interesting hypotheses can be easily expressed.
If you are interested in evolution, maturation, learning or culture, the seminar may be for you. (If none of these interest you, seek help.) If you are also at least somewhat familiar with mathematical or computational models of these systems, the seminar is definitely targetted at you; a review of Nowak's book and the other topics and readings listed in the syllabus/schedule may be useful. Participants who intend to receive credit for the seminar will be expected to contribute to the seminar and produce a final project.