Evolutionary Computing Via FPGAs

fm6 writes "There's this computer scientist named Adrian Thompson who's into what he calls "soft computing". He takes FPGAs and programs them to "evolve", Darwin-style. The chip modifies its own logic randomly. Changes that improve the chips ability to do some task are kept, others are discarded. He's actually succeeded in producing a chip that recognized a tone. The scary part: Thompson cannot explain exactly how the chip works! Article here."

How the future will be

[jerw134]

I think that in the future, we will have more and more things like this happening. Our machines will create themselves, and they will be so complex that we will have no idea how they work. And eventually, they will decide they don't need us and exterminate the whole human species. Wow. I sure hope that doesn't happen!

FPGAs and Starbridge Systems, Inc

[Anonymous Coward]

Starbridge Systems [starbridgesystems.com] popped up a few years ago (they might have been mentioned on /. even). At the time the things they claimed to do and their client list made them seem like yet another hoax (a la Linux on the N64). The prices they had on their web site at that time didnt help. I mean, who would buy a 94 million dollar (if I remember right) computer... even if you had a "black" budget?! But they didn't go away, and as I bounced around to jobs with big budgets, I heard rumblings and grumblings about this group or that department and Starbridge.

Now, with the mention in this article (even though it's dated in 4/01) maybe its time for an (in)famous /. interview?

Stability

[Detritus]

Does the circuit still work properly if the temperature increases by 10 C? What if the FPGA data file is loaded into an FPGA from a different vendor or an FPGA fabbed on a newer process?

SkyNet.

[x136]

The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes on-line August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th.

'Nuff said.

Resources on Evolutionary Computing

[ChaoticCoyote]

I've been evolving algorithms for a long time now, using finite state machines (FSM) which can be easily moved across architectures and programming languages. Quite often, an FSM evolves to exhibit surprising behavior -- and given the complexity of the machines, it is impractical to understand why the FSM acts as it does.

Note that I said "impractical" -- given time, I could follow the FSM's logic and discern it's "thinking" (and I have done so with simpler machines).

If you want real, concrete information about genetic algorithms and artificial life, I suggest visiting ALife.org [alife.org] or the U.S. Navy's GA Archive [navy.mil].

Shameless plug: For five years, I've been developing a free (no ads) web site, Complexity Central [coyotegulch.com], devoted to evolutionary algorithms, artificial life, and emergent behavior. I've posted several Java applets that demonstrate genetic algorithms, cellular automata, flocking behavior, and related subjects.

This is part of my Coyote Gulch [coyotegulch.com] web site, which contains lots of articles, web links, bibliographies, and free code in C++, Java, and Fortran(!).