Complex Genetic Evolution of Self-Replicating Loops

摘要

It is generally believed that self-replication models constructed on cellular automata have quite limited evolutionary dynamics in both diversity and adaptative behavior. Contrary to this view, we show that complex genetic diversification and adaptation processes may occur in self-replicating loop populations. Applying newly developed tools for detailed genetic identification and genealogy tracing to evoloop populations, we uncovered a genotypic permutation space that expands combinatorially with replicator size. Within this space populations demonstrate broad behavioral diversity and non-trivial genetic adaptation, maximizing colony density while enhancing sustainability against other species. We also found a set of non-mutable subsequences enabling genetic operations that alter fitness differentials and promote long-term evolutionary exploration. These results reveal the amazing potential of cellular automata to re-create complex genetic evolution of self-replicators in a simple, deterministic framework.