Open source Digital Bacteria

FiReaNGeL writes "Scientists have constructed a software capable of simulating organisms at the molecular, single-cell and population levels. The program, called AgentCell, will soon be available, open sourced under a BSD license. "With AgentCell we can simulate the behavior of entire populations of cells as they sense their environment, respond to stimuli and move in a three-dimensional world". The researchers have designed their digital bacterial system in modules, so that additional components may be added later - "The hope is that people will modify the code or add some new capabilities". AgentCell has possible applications in cancer research, drug development and combating bioterrorism. Lots of movies and pictures are available, along with a detailed press release describing the program."

Comments

Poor server...

[Cobra_666]

Saying "Lots of movies and pictures are available" in a Slashdot article is like a death sentence to the poor server running the site...

This Is New?

[Spencerian]

It seems that Windows users receive free copies of stuff like this each time they connect to the Internet and get their mail.

That, and news on free "sword sharpeners", if ya get my meaning.

I remember the old game of "Life" that simulated growth with very simple rules. Sounds like the game has grown up.

Re:This Is New?

[Rei]

This isn't really a variant on Conway's Game of Life - it's closer to a variant on Polyworld. Of course, if you want a grown up Conway's Game of Life, I wrote one called Megaconway a while back - massive worlds made possible by using each byte to store 8 squares and doing operations in bulk wherever possible. It also keeps entropy in the world with occasional random inputs of randomness of varying sizes. My big hope, although I doubt it will occur, is that eventually it will come up with a system that is stable, self-perpetuating, and can "heal" from random damage. Who knows... I leave it running niced to 19 at all times.

Let's not dis this development -

[Progman3K]

Bacteria may be the only culture some people have.

Re:What about us?

[ScentCone]

And just how do we know our entire reality isn't simply a large scale version of this? Is our universe simply the inside of a box? Does it even matter?

Well, first, no - if we're in a giant box, and the laws of physics defined therein cause us to see and experience what we're seeing and experiencing, then... no. That's the framework of our universe. We can't operate outside of that framework, so kvetching about it isn't very productive.

And second, you'll be getting the munchies very soon, I'm guessing.

Digital disease

[lilrowdy18]

Anybody know the cure for digital chlamydia?

I networked with this infected computer and didnt have my firewall turned on.

Re:True AI?

[AKAImBatman]

If you want a "AI" that borders on a consciousness, you don't want to start at this level - that's way too much work. You want to algorithmicly be simulating entire cells or even groups of cells at once, instead of components of cells.

Except for one problem: You're assuming that we actually know how the brain functions. Neural networks are interesting, but to date they've failed to show the levels of intelligence of a comparable animal. On top of that, they don't actually model the brain's neural patterns correctly.

Experiments at a lower level may produce greater insight, especially if we're missing something tricky such as encoded waveforms in neural pulses. Lower level simulations would allow us to explore the differences between the simulation and the real thing, thus producing loads of data on things we might be missing.

Re:There are 10 kinds

[TheWhaleShark]

Bacteria: It's the only culture we've got left.