BT 1 - Artificial Life - The Aqeel Akber Extra Extra Extravaganza

Proudly sponsored by my own company. Get the app → https://getmeos.com/extrameos is where i keep thinking with the mic off.This bite → https://aqeelakber.com/extra/bt1All episodes → https://aqeelakber.com/extraA solo bit on NEAT, POET, and MAP-Elites — evolutionary algorithms that grow neural networks and their wiring, not just weights. Aqeel walks through a weekend experiment where simple creatures evolve to recognise images they themselves produce, and how symmetry and low-energy constraints start to look uncannily like life.In this bite🧐 The facts>> Solo walkthrough of NEAT, POET, and MAP-Elites — algorithms that evolve network topology, not just weights.>> A weekend experiment lets evolved creatures recognise images their own DNA sequences produce.>> Browser-based swarm compute via WebAssembly and PartyKit — anyone can help evolve the population.>> Symmetry and low-energy constraints in a three-dimensional setup begin resembling biological form.>> Lines from Stanley, Clune, and Risi connect decentralised evolution to ongoing work on Meos.🍃 Between the factsNEAT-family algorithms meet a long-deferred weekend after shipping Meos to the app stores. The self-recognition task turns a research toy into something stranger: brains that must read pictures of their own making. Distributed volunteers in browsers carry a population search that would once have stayed on a lab cluster.🌬️ Beyond the factsSimple rules for wiring, energy, and symmetry start to resemble the shapes biology favours. A trace of identity persists inside artefacts that are partly constructed, partly discovered — a motif that echoes beyond the simulation.🔥 Why you should listenThe bit follows how a standing research interest surfaces in product choices and a live experiment you can join. Hearing it in Aqeel's voice carries the technical walkthrough and the quiet reason the project exists at all.dsq.studio