Artificial digital life, creation and evolution

Abstract

A.mon are computer programs analogous to biological life, but existing inside the digital environment as an executable file, able to interact with their environment, move around, evolve and hypothetically adapt to new hardware and software, through processes that resemble those found in biological life, although not identical: duplication of their own respective files (reproduction), random alteration of their own binary code (genetic mutation) and natural selection, having the digital environment as a source of selective pressure. Although one of the objectives of this project is adaptation of the digital organisms to new hardware and software autonomously, the original source code is written in the programming languages Go and Python, on Windows 10. Since complexity and diversity are expected to come from evolution, the code is simple and so is the lifespan of the specimens: once their executable files (ancestors) are ran (either by other specimen, a computer user, the computer's start up function, etc.), they access specific sections of their binary codes, randomly alter them by adding, modifying, or removing bytes, and use this mutated binary code to create new executable files (offspring), then they execute the executable files of the offspring and deactivate. The new specimens will restart the process if they're able to thrive. Furthermore, the A.mon have a visual representation in the form of animated sprites that move around on the computer screen, whose appearance, movement patterns, and speed are determined by their binary code, this is useful for easy visualization of new mutations.