The Importance of Open-Endedness (For the Sake of Open-Endedness)

Publication details

The Importance of Open-Endedness (For the Sake of Open-Endedness)

Tim Taylor

2020

Abstract

A paper in the recent Artificial Life journal special issue on open-ended evolution (OEE) presents a simple evolving computational system that, it is claimed, satisfies all proposed requirements for OEE (Hintze, 2019). Analysis and discussion of the system are used to support the further claims that complexity and diversity are the crucial features of open-endedness, and that we should concentrate on providing proper definitions for those terms rather than engaging in "the quest for open-endedness for the sake of open-endedness" (Hintze, 2019, p. 205). While I wholeheartedly support the pursuit of precise definitions of complexity and diversity in relation to OEE research, I emphatically reject the suggestion that OEE is not a worthy research topic in its own right. In the same issue of the journal, I presented a "high-level conceptual framework to help orient the discussion and implementation of open-endedness in evolutionary systems" (Taylor, 2019). In the current brief contribution I apply my framework to Hinzte’s model to understand its limitations. In so doing, I demonstrate the importance of studying open-endedness for the sake of open-endedness.

Full text

Author preprint: pdf
On publisher's website: via DOI

Reference

Taylor, T. (2020). The Importance of Open-Endedness (For the Sake of Open-Endedness). In J. Bongard, J. Lovato, L. Hebert-Dufrésne, R. Dasari, & L. Soros (Eds.), ALIFE 2020: Proceedings of the Artificial Life Conference 2020 (pp. 578–580). https://doi.org/10.1162/isal_a_00257

BibTeX

@inproceedings{taylor2020importance,
  author = {Taylor, Tim},
  title = {The Importance of Open-Endedness (For the Sake of Open-Endedness)},
  booktitle = {ALIFE 2020: Proceedings of the Artificial Life Conference 2020},
  editor = {Bongard, Josh and Lovato, Juniper and Hebert-Dufrésne, Laurent and Dasari, Radhakrishna and Soros, Lisa},
  year = {2020},
  publisher = {{MIT} Press},
  pages = {578-580},
  doi = {10.1162/isal_a_00257},
  category = {conference},
  keywords = {oee}
}

Note

Preprint on arXiv: arXiv:2006.03079

Related publications

Channon, A., Bedau, M., Packard, N., & Taylor, T. (2024). Editorial Introduction to the 2024 Special Issue on Open-Ended Evolution. Artificial Life, 30(3), 300–301. https://doi.org/10.1162/artl_e_00445
Full details
```
@article{channon2024editorial,
  author = {Channon, Alastair and Bedau, Mark and Packard, Norman and Taylor, Tim},
  title = {Editorial Introduction to the 2024 Special Issue on Open-Ended Evolution},
  journal = {Artificial Life},
  year = {2024},
  volume = {30},
  number = {3},
  pages = {300--301},
  publisher = {{MIT} Press Journals},
  doi = {10.1162/artl_e_00445},
  issn = {1064-5462},
  category = {journal},
  keywords = {oee}
}
```
Taylor, T. (2021). Evolutionary Innovation Viewed as Novel Physical Phenomena and Hierarchical Systems Building. Presented at the Fourth Workshop on Open-Ended Evolution (OEE4) at the 2021 Conference on Artificial Life (ALIFE 2021). Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.09669
PDF Full details
```
@article{taylor2021evolutionary,
  author = {Taylor, Tim},
  title = {Evolutionary Innovation Viewed as Novel Physical Phenomena and Hierarchical Systems Building},
  journal = {Presented at the Fourth Workshop on Open-Ended Evolution (OEE4) at the 2021 Conference on Artificial Life (ALIFE 2021)},
  year = {2021},
  month = jul,
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.09669},
  category = {workshop},
  keywords = {oee}
}
```
Taylor, T. (2019). Evolutionary Innovations and Where to Find Them: Routes to Open-Ended Evolution in Natural and Artificial Systems. Artificial Life, 25(2), 207–224. https://doi.org/10.1162/artl_a_00290
PDF Full details
```
@article{taylor2019evolutionary,
  author = {Taylor, Tim},
  title = {Evolutionary Innovations and Where to Find Them: Routes to Open-Ended Evolution in Natural and Artificial Systems},
  journal = {Artificial Life},
  year = {2019},
  volume = {25},
  number = {2},
  pages = {207--224},
  publisher = {{MIT} Press Journals},
  doi = {10.1162/artl_a_00290},
  issn = {1064-5462},
  category = {journal},
  keywords = {oee}
}
```
Packard, N., Bedau, M., Channon, A., Ikegami, T., Rasmussen, S., Stanley, K., & Taylor, T. (2019). An Overview of Open-Ended Evolution: Editorial Introduction to the Open-Ended Evolution II Special Issue. Artificial Life, 25(2), 93–103. https://doi.org/10.1162/artl_a_00291
PDF Full details
```
@article{packard2019overview,
  author = {Packard, Norman and Bedau, Mark and Channon, Alastair and Ikegami, Takashi and Rasmussen, Steen and Stanley, Kenneth and Taylor, Tim},
  title = {An Overview of Open-Ended Evolution: Editorial Introduction to the Open-Ended Evolution II Special Issue},
  journal = {Artificial Life},
  year = {2019},
  volume = {25},
  number = {2},
  pages = {93--103},
  publisher = {{MIT} Press Journals},
  doi = {10.1162/artl_a_00291},
  issn = {1064-5462},
  category = {journal},
  keywords = {oee}
}
```
Packard, N., Bedau, M., Channon, A., Ikegami, T., Rasmussen, S., Stanley, K., & Taylor, T. (2019). Open-Ended Evolution and Open-Endedness: Editorial Introduction to the Open-Ended Evolution I Special Issue. Artificial Life, 25(1), 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1162/artl_e_00282
PDF Full details
```
@article{packard2019openended,
  author = {Packard, Norman and Bedau, Mark and Channon, Alastair and Ikegami, Takashi and Rasmussen, Steen and Stanley, Kenneth and Taylor, Tim},
  title = {Open-Ended Evolution and Open-Endedness: Editorial Introduction to the Open-Ended Evolution I Special Issue},
  journal = {Artificial Life},
  year = {2019},
  volume = {25},
  number = {1},
  pages = {1--3},
  publisher = {{MIT} Press Journals},
  doi = {10.1162/artl_e_00282},
  issn = {1064-5462},
  category = {journal},
  keywords = {oee}
}
```
Taylor, T. (2018). Routes to Open-Endedness in Evolutionary Systems. Presented at the Third Workshop on Open-Ended Evolution (OEE3) at the 2018 Conference on Artificial Life (ALIFE 2018). Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.01883v3
PDF Full details
```
@article{taylor2018routes,
  author = {Taylor, Tim},
  title = {Routes to Open-Endedness in Evolutionary Systems},
  journal = {Presented at the Third Workshop on Open-Ended Evolution (OEE3) at the 2018 Conference on Artificial Life (ALIFE 2018)},
  year = {2018},
  month = jul,
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.01883v3},
  category = {workshop},
  keywords = {oee}
}
```

Taylor, T., Bedau, M., Channon, A., Ackley, D., Banzhaf, W., Beslon, G., … Wiser, M. (2016). Open-Ended Evolution: Perspectives from the OEE Workshop in York. Artificial Life, 22(3), 408–423. https://doi.org/10.1162/artl_a_00210

PDF Full details

@article{taylor2016openended,
  author = {Taylor, Tim and Bedau, Mark and Channon, Alastair and Ackley, David and Banzhaf, Wolfgang and Beslon, Guillaume and Dolson, Emily and Froese, Tom and Hickinbotham, Simon and Ikegami, Takashi and McMullin, Barry and Packard, Norman and Rasmussen, Steen and Virgo, Nathaniel and Agmon, Eran and Clark, Edward and McGregor, Simon and Ofria, Charles and Ropella, Glen and Spector, Lee and Stanley, Kenneth O. and Stanton, Adam and Timperley, Christopher and Vostinar, Anya and Wiser, Michael},
  title = {Open-Ended Evolution: Perspectives from the {OEE} Workshop in {Y}ork},
  journal = {Artificial Life},
  year = {2016},
  publisher = {{MIT} Press Journals},
  volume = {22},
  number = {3},
  pages = {408--423},
  doi = {10.1162/artl_a_00210},
  category = {journal},
  keywords = {oee}
}

Taylor, T. (2015). Requirements for Open-Ended Evolution in Natural and Artificial Systems. Presented at the EvoEvo Workshop at the European Conference on Artificial Life 2015 (ECAL 2015). Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/abs/1507.07403
PDF Full details
```
@article{taylor2015requirements,
  author = {Taylor, Tim},
  title = {Requirements for Open-Ended Evolution in Natural and Artificial Systems},
  journal = {Presented at the EvoEvo Workshop at the European Conference on Artificial Life 2015 (ECAL 2015)},
  year = {2015},
  month = jul,
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/1507.07403},
  category = {workshop},
  keywords = {oee}
}
```
Taylor, T. (2014). Evolution in virtual worlds. In M. Grimshaw (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Virtuality (pp. 526–548). https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199826162.013.044
PDF Full details
```
@inbook{taylor2014evolution,
  title = {Evolution in virtual worlds},
  author = {Taylor, Tim},
  year = {2014},
  doi = {10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199826162.013.044},
  language = {English},
  isbn = {9780199826162},
  pages = {526--548},
  editor = {Grimshaw, Mark},
  booktitle = {The Oxford Handbook of Virtuality},
  publisher = {Oxford University Press},
  address = {United Kingdom},
  category = {chapter},
  keywords = {oee}
}
```
Taylor, T. (2012). Exploring the Concept of Open-Ended Evolution. In C. Adami, D. M. Bryson, C. Ofria, & R. T. Pennock (Eds.), Artificial Life 13: Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems (pp. 540–541). MIT Press.
PDF Full details
```
@inproceedings{taylor2012exploring,
  author = {Taylor, Tim},
  title = {Exploring the Concept of Open-Ended Evolution},
  booktitle = {Artificial Life 13: Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems},
  year = {2012},
  editor = {Adami, Christoph and Bryson, David M. and Ofria, Charles and Pennock, Robert T.},
  pages = {540--541},
  publisher = {{MIT} Press},
  category = {conference},
  keywords = {oee}
}
```
Taylor, T. (2004). Redrawing the Boundary between Organism and Environment. In J. Pollack, M. A. Bedau, P. Husbands, R. A. Watson, & T. Ikegami (Eds.), Artificial Life IX: Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems (pp. 268–273). https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/1429.003.0045
PDF Full details
```
@inproceedings{taylor2004redrawing,
  author = {Taylor, Tim},
  title = {Redrawing the Boundary between Organism and Environment},
  booktitle = {Artificial Life IX: Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems},
  year = {2004},
  editor = {Pollack, Jordan and Bedau, Mark A. and Husbands, Phil and Watson, Richard A. and Ikegami, Takashi},
  pages = {268-273},
  address = {Cambridge, MA},
  publisher = {{MIT} Press},
  doi = {10.7551/mitpress/1429.003.0045},
  category = {conference},
  keywords = {evoca, oee, meaning, agency}
}
```
Taylor, T. (2003). Evolving Interaction in Artificial Systems: An historical overview and future directions. In P. McOwan, K. Dautenhahn, & C. L. Nehaniv (Eds.), Abstracts from the Evolvability and Interaction Symposium, held at Queen Mary, University of London, UK, in October 2003. University of Hertfordshire Computer Science Technical Report No. 393.
Full details
```
@incollection{taylor2003evolving,
  author = {Taylor, Tim},
  title = {Evolving Interaction in Artificial Systems: An historical overview and future directions},
  booktitle = {Abstracts from the Evolvability and Interaction Symposium, held at Queen Mary, University of London, UK, in October 2003},
  publisher = {University of Hertfordshire Computer Science Technical Report No.~393},
  year = {2003},
  month = oct,
  editor = {McOwan, Peter and Dautenhahn, Kerstin and Nehaniv, Chrystopher L.},
  category = {workshop},
  keywords = {evoca, history, oee}
}
```
Taylor, T. (2001). Creativity in Evolution: Individuals, Interactions and Environments. In P. J. Bentley & D. W. Corne (Eds.), Creative Evolutionary Systems (pp. 79–108). https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-155860673-9/50037-9
PDF Full details
```
@incollection{taylor2001creativity,
  author = {Taylor, Tim},
  title = {Creativity in Evolution: Individuals, Interactions and Environments},
  booktitle = {Creative Evolutionary Systems},
  editor = {Bentley, Peter J and Corne, David W},
  chapter = {1},
  pages = {79--108},
  publisher = {Morgan Kaufmann},
  year = {2001},
  doi = {10.1016/b978-155860673-9/50037-9},
  category = {chapter},
  keywords = {creativity, oee}
}
```
Taylor, T. (2000). Some Representational and Ecological Aspects of Evolvability. In C. L. Nehaniv (Ed.), Proceedings of the Evolvability Workshop at the the Seventh International Conference on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems (Artificial Life 7) (pp. 41–44). Retrieved from http://homepages.herts.ac.uk/ comqcln/al7ev/cnts.html
PDF Full details
```
@inproceedings{taylor2000some,
  author = {Taylor, Tim},
  title = {Some Representational and Ecological Aspects of Evolvability},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the Evolvability Workshop at the the Seventh International Conference on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems (Artificial Life 7)},
  year = {2000},
  editor = {Nehaniv, Chrystopher L.},
  pages = {41-44},
  url = {http://homepages.herts.ac.uk/~comqcln/al7ev/cnts.html},
  month = aug,
  category = {workshop},
  keywords = {selfrep, oee}
}
```
Taylor, T. J. (1999). From Artificial Evolution to Artificial Life (PhD thesis). School of Informatics, College of Science and Engineering, University of Edinburgh.
PDF Full details
```
@phdthesis{taylor1999artificial,
  author = {Taylor, Timothy John},
  title = {From Artificial Evolution to Artificial Life},
  school = {School of Informatics, College of Science and Engineering, University of Edinburgh},
  year = {1999},
  uri = {http://hdl.handle.net/1842/361},
  category = {dissertation},
  keywords = {selfrep, oee, cosmos}
}
```
Taylor, T. (1998). Nidus Design Document (Departmental Working Paper No. 269). Department of Artificial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh.
PDF Full details
```
@techreport{taylor1998nidus,
  author = {Taylor, Tim},
  title = {Nidus Design Document},
  institution = {Department of Artificial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh},
  year = {1998},
  type = {Departmental Working Paper},
  number = {269},
  month = jun,
  category = {techreport},
  keywords = {oee}
}
```