Toward a Practice of Autonomous Systems: Proceedings of the First European Conference on Artificial Life [Paperback]

Paul Bourgine (Editor), Francisco J. Varela (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2, 1992 | Series: Complex Adaptive Systems

Artificial life embodies a recent and important conceptual step in modem science: asserting that the core of intelligence and cognitive abilities is the same as the capacity for living. The recent surge of interest in artificial life has pushed a whole range of engineering traditions, such as control theory and robotics, beyond classical notions of goal and planning into biologically inspired notions of viability and adaptation, situatedness and operational closure.These proceedings serve two important functions: they address bottom-up theories of artificial intelligence and explore what can be learned from simple models such as insects about the cognitive processes and characteristic autonomy of living organisms, while also engaging researchers and philosophers in an exciting examination of the epistemological basis of this new trend.Francisco J. Varela is Director of Research at CNRS in Paris, France. Paul Bourgine is Professor of Artificial Intelligence at CEMAGREF, Antony, France.Topics include: Artificial Animals. Genetic Algorithms. Autonomous Systems. Emergent Behaviors. Artificial Ecologies. Immunologic Algorithms. Self-Adapting Systems. Emergent Structures. Emotion And Motivation. Neural Networks. Coevolution. Fitness Landscapes Contributors include: H. Bersini. Domenico Parisi. Rodney A. Brooks. Christopher G. Langton. S. Kauffman. J.-L. Denenbourg. Pattie Maes. John Holland. T. Smithers. H. Swefel. H. Muhlenbein.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Francisco Varela is Director of Research at the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique and Professor of Cognitive Science and Epistemology, CREA, at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris.

Product Details

• Paperback: 533 pages
• Publisher: A Bradford Book (April 2, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262720191
• ISBN-13: 978-0262720199
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,891,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 stars timid steps towards artificial life, December 20, 2008

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W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Toward a Practice of Autonomous Systems: Proceedings of the First European Conference on Artificial Life (Paperback)

While the subtitle says Artificial Life, the contents are actually only a timid step in that direction. The book came out in 1992 and even now in 2008/9, we are still far from any "true" artificial life. Instead, the book's papers are on more limited topics. Like related to neural networks implementing vision. Or on genetic algorithms and programming.

A bunch of papers are in robotics. Describing experiments using electromechanical devices with various control algorithms, for tasks like walking.

One paper is off on a different tangent. It looks at dynamics of artificial markets, where there are multiple software agents doing buys and sells. A possible ecology of agents and their behaviour is mooted.