Re: computer modelling of language evolution
D S Hendler (bison who-is-at mail.utexas.edu)
Mon, 23 Mar 1998 08:27:09 -0600
actually, help may come from the strangest of places.
I dare say it is homo sapien hubris that makes us
think that communication must be done in a language
(and we metaphorically project that whatever communicates
does so in its own "language" (a word fraught with multi-
valencies inappropriate for the level or mode of communication
at hand)).
the work of Mitchell Resnick at the MITMedia Lab
works with organizing virtual organisms (including models
of fire and traffic). His program, "starlogo" might be an interesting
place to begin (http://www.media.mit.edu/~starlogo), and his
book _turtles, termites, and traffic jams_ is excellent. Also,
Chris Langton at the Santa Fe Institute does work with
artificial life projects (and has a nice program for modelling them,
as well). I believe it was Langton's group that was working on
a networked "organism" that lives and adapts through networked
machines, though my memory on this is fuzzy.
D S Hendler
University of Texas, Austin
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