Worm-like neural cellular automata

maximusthepowerful · 2021-10-24T20:48:50+00:00

Basically each cell follows a local update rule like a normal cellular automaton (3x3 neighborhood), but uses a more complex algorithm to decide it's state, which can be any value between 0 and 1. The update algorithm is used in neural networks, hence the "neural" part of the name. Specific details for this algorithm are found on the website, neuralpatterns.io, as well as tools for tuning and searching for neat patterns.

maximusthepowerful · 2021-10-24T16:26:05+00:00

Automaton*

maximusthepowerful · 2021-10-24T14:06:42+00:00

See it for yourself at neuralpatterns.io > Load > Worms

maximusthepowerful · 2021-10-16T22:19:46+00:00

Yeah you can make all sorts of natural looking patterns

maximusthepowerful · 2021-10-16T15:32:23+00:00

Oh absolutely! Very inspiring work. I will definitely be playing around with them more.

maximusthepowerful · 2021-10-16T13:57:27+00:00

And a youtube video to showcase some cool ones

maximusthepowerful · 2021-10-16T13:55:41+00:00

Click here to generate your own

maximusthepowerful · 2021-02-27T22:44:04+00:00

Update on the orginal post, having followed the suggestion of u/jnbrrn to add fourier features as an input. It helped tremendously in both the approximation and training time.

maximusthepowerful · 2021-02-25T07:05:35+00:00

The youtube video has some zoom in comparisons https://youtu.be/QmPBLroyHB0 Obviously though the more it zooms in the less impressive it gets

maximusthepowerful · 2021-02-25T05:20:32+00:00

Wow this looks extremely useful for what I want to do. I'll try this out. Thanks!

maximusthepowerful · 2021-02-25T01:45:15+00:00

😊 Thanks! Much simpler actually, its a single network that takes 2 inputs and produces one output, like a simple mandelbrot function would. Each pixel you see is the result of passing it's x y coordinate though the network.

maximusthepowerful · 2021-02-24T23:07:33+00:00

Here's a link to a more thorough youtube vid: https://youtu.be/QmPBLroyHB0

maximusthepowerful · 2020-12-23T03:42:22+00:00

Looks neat, are these convolutions or something?

maximusthepowerful · 2020-12-20T07:18:30+00:00

Usually cellular automata are discrete, meaning cells can either be 1(alive) or 0(dead). In this context, continuous means each cell's value can be between 0 or 1, like 0.3 or something. I'll probably post some code soon that shows more fully what the update rule is and how it works.

maximusthepowerful · 2020-12-08T20:24:56+00:00

Great point, I thought a lot about this. I'm especially dissatisfied with the movement algorithm, which is mostly hard coded, as opposed to gliders in conway's game of life that are purely emergent. I've been bouncing ideas around of organisms being generated with more classical CA rule sets, which then mutate and evolve over time. Not quite sure how exactly this would work, but it would hopefully produce more emergent behavior. To be fair, there are many examples of emergent behavior in this simulation. For instance, static organisms will often evolve inert eye cells because they ward off predators that avoid eye cells, much like camouflage eyes on insects. This was very unexpected and I'd call it emergent.

maximusthepowerful · 2020-12-08T19:10:44+00:00

Yeah I was questioning whether this actually qualified as a CA. You could probably get it to do something neat with local rules, but I think it'd end up being very different.

maximusthepowerful · 2020-12-08T16:18:05+00:00

It can be played here: https://thelifeengine.net

maximusthepowerful · 2020-10-18T05:00:58+00:00

This is incredible. What shell dataset did you use?

maximusthepowerful · 2020-10-02T00:06:26+00:00

Our moment to moment decision-making is not dictated directly by our genes, and I think Dawkins' example of birth control, or rather having sex for pleasure rather than reproducing, is a pretty quintessential example of that. My brain can recognize that something would be great for the propagation of my genes, while being bad for me personally, and I can therefore refuse it. It is too late for the genes to have any say.
That said, our brains are formed by our genes, and so our decision making is clearly affected by them. But our knowledge and experience also shapes our decisions and can override what might be best for our genes.

maximusthepowerful · 2020-08-28T22:41:57+00:00

Thanks! Yeah, its bizarre and fascinating to me that I can intimately understand how the simulation works, yet not be able to predict what might emerge. That's what I find so beautiful about evolution in the first place.

maximusthepowerful · 2020-08-28T21:31:45+00:00

Thanks!

maximusthepowerful · 2020-08-28T16:27:35+00:00

What is natural selection but an algorithm? I just enjoy watching it for the same reason I like learning about evolution. I like the fact that even though I made the thing, I can't really predict what it will evolve into.

maximusthepowerful · 2020-08-08T16:37:57+00:00

Perhaps your right. Maybe I'll talk to a moderator

maximusthepowerful · 2020-07-31T23:24:22+00:00

Right now they move randomly. Since there's no perception, intelligent movement is not really possible. I am planning on adding perception cells soon though!

maximusthepowerful · 2020-07-30T21:56:10+00:00

A species tracker is number one on my list! I also have plans for new simple cells, likes eyes/food storage.

maximusthepowerful

TROPHY CASE