Unnatural Selection

MIT's Technology Review has a good summary of the genetic algorithms [PDF] and their adoption to create real world products. (I've posted previously on this topic.) Evolutionary algorithms, genetic algorithms or genetic programming -- by whichever name they go by, they all amount to the same thing -- using the evolutionary principles of biology in software code to create the most functional product based on prescribed criteria. Just as in biology, genetic algorithms uses the traits of two parents to seed a child, allowing for random genetic mutation in the process of producing the child. The most successful parents are allowed to seed an offspring, and so, the computer does in seconds what biological evolution takes millions of years to complete. The result: children that improve over their parents over time. While the products produce are quite functional, often they're also bizarre in their design. Take an antenna designed for NASA's Space Technology 5 mission -- it's "a corkscrew contraption small enough to fit in a wine glass, yet able to send a wide-beam radio wave from space to Earth."