xArtificial Life, Artificial Culture & Evolutionary Designx

Honors 69 - SPRING quarter 2002
Write! Let me know what interests you. gessler@ucla.edu

Powell 320 CLICC Classroom "C"
Tuesdays 10-1 (with break). Lunch at North Campus.
Thursdays 10-12, tutorial (office hour) 12-1. Lunch at North Campus.
Seminar, five hours. No special mathematical or computer knowledge is required although familiarity with the PC is recommended. P/NP or letter grading.

A seminar on artificial life, artificial culture, artificial intelligence, virtual environments, and evolutionary computation through writings, videos and movie clips on artificial worlds and practical hands-on engagement with multi-agent simulations and games. Field trips are being arranged.

	SIMULATION and VISUALIZATION. ART and SCIENCE of synthetic worlds. Fact and fantasy in STAR TREK, DARK CITY, THIRTEENTH FLOOR, MATRIX, AI. Can software programs, hardware computers and autonomous robots create, learn and evolve on their own? Can life & intelligence exist in silicon as it does in carbon? Are we "just" programs running on some "hidden" universal computer? Is consciousness an epiphenomenon? Does it make decisions or simply watch? Believe it or not, YOU can write your own Windows PC simulations! (optional)	INDEX
		SYLLABUS
		CALENDAR
		PARTICIPANTS
		SIMULATIONS
ClassWeb Listing - Schedule of Classes Listing - Honors Collegium Listing - The Original Syllabus (to see how this course was originally envisioned)