Quantum coreworld proposal and other news...

[Alexander (Sasha) Wait]

Coreworlders,

In the last few weeks I have been writing a PHD proposal for a review
meeting with George Church, Jim Hogle, Peter Shor, Gerry Sussman, and
Jack Szostak. We met yesterday and agreed to meet again in six months.
My short term goals are to better describe quantum mechanics in the
Coreworld, complete a prototype using the existing infrastructure, and
collect some "results". The proposal can be found at:

* http://non.fiction.org/~await/2004/20041101.phd-prop.pdf

=== ABSTRACT ===

I propose to test the following hypothesis: information processing of
quantum states—that can be simulated on a classical digital computer—
will provide a selective advantage in an abstract, natural ecology. To
test this hypothesis, I will:

* design a three-dimensional, easily distributed, quantum virtual
machine (QVM) according to a list of desiderata gathered from
the literature and consistent with established axioms of quantum
information processing (QIP);

* permit the QVM to evolve completely autonomously—starting from
random sequences—or through the intervention of human
participants;

* implement a change management/build/test system for systematic
exploration of alternate QVMs so that the modeled ecology is as
natural as possible; and,

* solicit CPU time and human ingenuity over the Internet to ensure
that any putative QIP advantage—or lack of advantage—is not an
artifact of my personal ability or computational resources.

Finally, the evolutionary theory literature provides a road-map for
further exploration; expected phenomena include: diversity, frequency
dependent selection, multilevel selection, function valued traits,
maternal effects, and de-novo evolution. While exploring life as it
could be, I hope this work provides insight into life as it is.

=== END OF ABSTRACT ===

Emailed comments are greatly appreciated; I will incorporate the
comments and put updated HTML versions of the above proposal on-line.
If you prefer to comment on list please use:

* http://groups-beta.google.com/group/coreworld

I have also put-up a brief technical road-map for the project at:

* http://groups-beta.google.com/group/coreworld-dev

These lists are there for the singular individuals that -like- SPAM. =^)

Since there was interest at ALife IX to have a regular local meeting in
Boston, I have recently revived the MIT ALife group as ALife Boston.
The new group is intended as a gathering place for discussion of the
modeling and synthesis of molecular systems; the first meeting will be
held at NECSI, 24 Mt. Auburn St., Cambridge, 2pm, Monday, November 22nd.
If you are interested, please, email me. More details at:

* http://non.fiction.org/~await/alife

Nathan Walsh will speak at the first meeting about efforts to build a
counter with real molecules. For more information on that project see:

* http://theory.med.harvard.edu/SynBio

The weeks since ALife IX have been very hectic. Thanks to everyone who
is interested in this project. Your participation is much appreciated!
I will post more detailed project progress reports on the "coreworld"
and "coreworld-dev" lists as seems appropriate; I will continue to
summarize highlights on "coreworld-announce".

Thanks again!

--ASW

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