Download Simulation
Introduction
System Requirements
In order to run the following applications, you will need a computer running the operating system  Apple Mac OS X 10.3 (or 10.2 with limited functionality). The software is not compatible with Microsoft Windows yet.
You can download this application's source code, if you like.
What is this Simulation doing?
First, you will have to "create" some animals. You can do this under "Edit Animals". Now, some virtual animals are created and placed onto a virtual plane. They all have stored some variables which will help them to decide what to do in the simulation. These variables are displayed in the "Animal List". Every row of numbers is an animal.
Then, you will have to start the simulation clicking on the play button. Now, the animals start moving, eating, and reproducing on this plane. Every move of every animal is computed considering the animal's individual behavioural variables and to some extend random numbers.
A very central process of natural evolution is reproduction. In this process there happens to occur some errors (mutation). This means that offspring is not exactly the average of its parents.
There is also a sort of isolation in the process of reproduction: animals that are too different to each other cannot produce viable offspring. In this simulation, the criterion that decides whether two animals can have offspring or not, is "Food 1 Fitness" and "Food 2 Fitness". These two variables of the parents must be similar in order to produce offspring. This means that if they are very different, the two animals are in a different species.
If the energy of an animal becomes negative, it dies. The energy of an animal increases when it eats and decreases when it does something. You can set how much energy the different actions will cost under "Energy Descrease" in the "Simulation Settings" window. This process creates selection.
Downloads
Version 0.2.3
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 Evolution 0.2.3 (168 KB, .dmg disk image) 2004-12-24
- function to delete all animals
- new appearance
- function to reset the round counter
- possibility to stop the simulation at a any desired population size
- some simulation variables are available to the user
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Version 0.2.2
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Evolution 0.2.2 (184 KB, .dmg disk image) 2004-11-07
This version includes some ameliorations to the appearance: The windows are improved and the application now contains an application icon. Additionally, an English localization is implemented.
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Mac OS X
Source Code
Evolution 0.2.2
Author
Ivo Näpflin
Date
2004-12-26
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