Ask HN: Which algorithms based on biological ideas do you know? | Hacker News
news.ycombinator.com · 3,531 words · saved by 1 readers
One of my favorites is a prime number generator based on a predator-prey models of cicadas: http://www.j-npcs.org/online/vol2000/v3no2/v3no2p208.pdf
I wrote my MSc on improving certain Genetic Algorithms by incorporating biologists' ideas of "exaptation," or having features that were evolved for use in one context providing a jump in another context. For example, it's quite difficult to imagine how wings evolved, since 1% of a wing seems to offer no fitness advantage, and yet you can't evolve 10% of a wing without evolving 1%. One idea from biology is that feathers probably evolved first as thermoregulators (basically good fur for dinosaurs), and small wing flaps may have evolved similarly to keep animals warm, and only once they had…
saved by
related reading
- A Visual Guide to Evolution Strategies | 大トロblog.otoro.net
- Evolution as Backstop for Reinforcement Learning · Gwern.netgwern.net
- Human-like Neural Nets by Catapulting · Gwern.netgwern.net
- Visualizing Algorithmsbost.ocks.org
- Natural computingen.wikipedia.org
- Analogies between Biology and Deep Learning [rough note] -- colah's blogcolah.github.io
- An Introduction to Genetic Algorithms and Evolution Strate…static.aminer.org
- Artificial Lifeyoutube.com
- Mechanisms too simple for humans to designmalmesbury.substack.com
- A biological perspective on evolutionary computationnn.cs.utexas.edu
- Book Review: Design Principles of Biological Circuits — LessWronglesswrong.com
- Mechanisms too simple for humans to design — LessWronglesswrong.com