On the evolution of multicellularity and eusociality
Artificial Life
Evolving visually guided agents in an ambiguous virtual world
GECCO '05 Proceedings of the 7th annual conference on Genetic and evolutionary computation
Modular thinking: evolving modular neural networks for visual guidance of agents
Proceedings of the 8th annual conference on Genetic and evolutionary computation
Slime mould and the transition to multicellularity: the role of the macrocyst stage
ECAL'05 Proceedings of the 8th European conference on Advances in Artificial Life
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This paper expands Mosaic World, an artificial life model, in order to directly test theories on the emergence of multicellular life. Five experiments are conducted and demonstrate that both the presence of predation and accidental aggregation are sufficient conditions for the transition to multicellularity. In addition, it is shown that division of labour is a major benefit for aggregation, and evolves even if aggregates ‘pay' for abilities they do not use. Analysis of evolved results shows multiple parallels to natural systems, such as differentiation in constituent members of an aggregate, and life-like, complex ecosystems.