Artificial Life and the Philosophy of Science

Abstract

What is the ontological status of Artificial Life systems? This question admits two interpretations. The first asks whether and to what degree Artificial Life systems could potentially be considered 'alive' in the sense that we take naturally occuring biological systems to be. The second has to do with what sort of role Artificial Life systems occupy in scientific inquiry. In this paper, we investigate both facets of the question, and explore the philosophical and practical implications of possible answers for scientific practice.

Digital Evolution for Ecology Research: A Review

“…This last point may seem counter-intuitive; as scientists, we are often encouraged to constantly seek out novelty. However, when first examining a new corner of a digital evolution platform, there is generally some "digital naturalism" (Fahmy, 2014) style work to be done. Every system has quirks that need to be understood before meaningful experiments can be conducted.…”

The methods of biorobotics

“…As such, so-called bioroboticsthe use of robots to study the adaptive and social behavior of living systems Webb, 2001;Datteri, 2017) can be properly regarded as a 'hard' form of ALife research. Biorobotics gives rise to methodological questions which arise in connection with 'soft' and 'wet' forms of ALife research too (Fahmy, 2014). In biorobotics, human-made systems are used as experimental tools to theorize about the behavior of living systems.…”