Metamorphosis and artificial development: An abstract approach to functionality

Abstract

An artificial developmental process may reflect the principle of a process starting with a zygote which develops to a multicellular organism. An organism goes through an interwoven process of shaping the form and behaviour. Metamorphosis is a stage in the development of many species, e.g. insects, which include a large variation of phenotypic shape and behaviour in the life-time of the organism. Here principles from metamorphosis are included as a developmental stage that can be exploited by evolution to produce artificial organisms with variation in behaviour at different developmental stages. The target developmental system is a cellular system close to a non-uniform cellular automaton. As such, Darwin's discovery is exploited for evolving genomes for the construction (development) of von Neumann's cellular machines, Darwin meets von Neumann. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.