Acknowledgements Introduction: A latter-day Frankenstein 1. Failing the test 2. Lies, damned lies and linguistics 3. A guide to the intangible 4. Levels of being and the general scheme of things 5. The importance of being emergent 6. Looking-glass worlds 7. They call me Legion; for I am many 8. On the balance of nature 9. God's Lego set 10. The whole iguana 11. Igor, hand me that screwdriver... 12. I am Ron's brain 13. Three parts gin to one of vermouth 14. Taking over the world 15. Vapourware Bibliography Index
Very occasionally somebody from outside academia comes along and shows us academics how to do something we've been working on for years. Steve Grand showed us how to build a universe of evolving creatures, without the prevailing academic biases. This delightful book is a fresh and inspiring account of how to succeed in creating artificial life. -- Rodney Brooks, Director, Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT A giant leap forward into a new and unknown world...awe-inspiring. -- Douglas Adams, on the computer game Creatures
Steve Grand is co-founder and former Director of Technology at Creature Labs, a firm based in the United Kingdom. He has written and lectured widely on the topic of artificial life and was nominated by the Sunday Times (of London) as one of “The Brains behind the 21st Century.” His latest research objective is to build the world’s first conscious machine.
Steve Grand is the creator of what I think is the nearest approach
to artificial life so far, and his first book, Creation, is as
interesting as you would expect. But he illuminates more than just
the properties of life; his originality extends to matter itself
and the very nature of reality.
*The Guardian*
If you’ve heard about A-life but aren’t quite sure what it is or
where it’s going, Grand’s book is an excellent place to enter one
of the more exciting areas of twenty-first-century science.
*Nature*
When Steve Grand developed his artificial-life computer game
Creatures nine years ago, he never dreamed that 1 million people
would play it and come to care deeply about the lives of their
virtual pets. Creatures allowed players to design these pets, or
norns, and observe how they interacted with their environment and
with other norns. The norns have computer-simulated hormones and
DNA. They eat and breed. They fall in love. According to Grand’s
book Creation…‘Creatures was probably the closest thing there has
been to a new form of life on this planet in four billion years.’
That’s a pretty startling claim, but as Grand explains in his
strangely accessible and consistently surprising book, whether or
not you believe it depends on your definition of what’s alive.
Grand—now two years into building a 4-month-old robot orangutan
named Lucy—argues that our traditional notion of life is just now
beginning to change.
*Salon*
Grand’s entertaining but highly educational, historical, and
intensely philosophical book on artificial life takes readers
inside the mind of the creator of one of the more popular games,
Creature[s], and its follow-ons. This personal account of the
developmental steps of the game and its lifelike artificial
creature in a rich cyberworld not only highlights the magic of how
the creatures are programmed, but also provides a glimpse into the
philosophy, implications, perspectives, and dilemmas in making
them. This book is written not only to detail the highly technical
aspects of the inner world image of the game, but also to enrich,
incite, and promote the general awareness of synthetically
generated beings… Delightful to read, easy to understand, and
interesting to gamers and nongamers alike.
*Choice*
[Creation is] the latest word on computer intelligence, from the
designer of a popular computer game… On the whole, Grand succeeds
in providing useful hints to computer-savvy readers without
drowning laymen in details of programming. At the same time, he
gives an entertaining glimpse of the game itself, with descriptions
of ‘Ron,’ the first creature he programmed for the computer game.
Smoothly written and thought-provoking—worth a look for anyone
curious about computer intelligence.
*Kirkus Reviews*
Blending aspects of philosophy, computer science, artificial
intelligence, biology and computer gaming, Grand attempts to define
life, discuss the nature of the human soul and demonstrate how it
is possible to create entities that demand to be called both living
and intelligent. A tall order indeed, and to wonderful effect…
[Grand] is at his best describing the problems encountered and the
solutions used to animate his virtual universe. While at first
glance Grand’s definitions of life might be off-putting, he
explains his terms clearly and carefully, guiding the reader
comfortably through various levels of discussion… [E]njoyable and
thought-provoking.
*Publishers Weekly*
Very occasionally somebody from outside academia comes along and
shows us academics how to do something we’ve been working on for
years. Steve Grand showed us how to build a universe of evolving
creatures, without the prevailing academic biases. This delightful
book is a fresh and inspiring account of how to succeed in creating
artificial life.
*Rodney Brooks, Director, Artificial Intelligence Laboratory,
MIT*
A giant leap forward into a new and unknown
world…awe-inspiring.
*Douglas Adams, on the computer game Creatures*
Steve Grand is the creator of what I think is the nearest approach
to artificial life so far, and his first book, Creation, is
as interesting as you would expect. But he illuminates more than
just the properties of life; his originality extends to matter
itself and the very nature of reality. -- Richard Dawkins * The
Guardian *
If you've heard about A-life but aren't quite sure what it is or
where it's going, Grand's book is an excellent place to enter one
of the more exciting areas of twenty-first-century science. -- John
L. Casti * Nature *
When Steve Grand developed his artificial-life computer game
Creatures nine years ago, he never dreamed that 1 million
people would play it and come to care deeply about the lives of
their virtual pets. Creatures allowed players to design
these pets, or norns, and observe how they interacted with their
environment and with other norns. The norns have computer-simulated
hormones and DNA. They eat and breed. They fall in love. According
to Grand's book Creation...'Creatures was probably
the closest thing there has been to a new form of life on this
planet in four billion years.' That's a pretty startling claim, but
as Grand explains in his strangely accessible and consistently
surprising book, whether or not you believe it depends on your
definition of what's alive. Grand-now two years into building a
4-month-old robot orangutan named Lucy-argues that our traditional
notion of life is just now beginning to change. -- Suzy Hansen *
Salon *
Grand's entertaining but highly educational, historical, and
intensely philosophical book on artificial life takes readers
inside the mind of the creator of one of the more popular games,
Creature[s], and its follow-ons. This personal
account of the developmental steps of the game and its lifelike
artificial creature in a rich cyberworld not only highlights the
magic of how the creatures are programmed, but also provides a
glimpse into the philosophy, implications, perspectives, and
dilemmas in making them. This book is written not only to detail
the highly technical aspects of the inner world image of the game,
but also to enrich, incite, and promote the general awareness of
synthetically generated beings... Delightful to read, easy to
understand, and interesting to gamers and nongamers alike. -- J. Y.
Cheung * Choice *
[Creation is] the latest word on computer intelligence, from
the designer of a popular computer game... On the whole, Grand
succeeds in providing useful hints to computer-savvy readers
without drowning laymen in details of programming. At the same
time, he gives an entertaining glimpse of the game itself, with
descriptions of 'Ron,' the first creature he programmed for the
computer game. Smoothly written and thought-provoking-worth a look
for anyone curious about computer intelligence. * Kirkus Reviews
*
Blending aspects of philosophy, computer science, artificial
intelligence, biology and computer gaming, Grand attempts to define
life, discuss the nature of the human soul and demonstrate how it
is possible to create entities that demand to be called both living
and intelligent. A tall order indeed, and to wonderful effect...
[Grand] is at his best describing the problems encountered and the
solutions used to animate his virtual universe. While at first
glance Grand's definitions of life might be off-putting, he
explains his terms clearly and carefully, guiding the reader
comfortably through various levels of discussion... [E]njoyable and
thought-provoking. * Publishers Weekly *
Very occasionally somebody from outside academia comes along and
shows us academics how to do something we've been working on for
years. Steve Grand showed us how to build a universe of evolving
creatures, without the prevailing academic biases. This delightful
book is a fresh and inspiring account of how to succeed in creating
artificial life. -- Rodney Brooks, Director, Artificial
Intelligence Laboratory, MIT
A giant leap forward into a new and unknown world...awe-inspiring.
-- Douglas Adams, on the computer game Creatures
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