Overview

Welcome to Artificial Life and Digital Evolution! Most class meetings will have preparation that you should do beforehand and learning objectives that you should be comfortable with before class and after class.

I know that this first one you might not be able to get done before class, so please just get it done as soon as you can after.

Basic Learning Objectives

These are the learning objectives that each student is responsible for having proficiency at BEFORE the class meeting. Sometimes there will be checks, but since this is an upper-level class, sometimes you will need to just assess for yourself if you are proficient at these objectives.

If you aren’t sure of any of them, you should definitely aim to reach out before the class meeting to clear things up.

Before class, you should be able to:

  • Explain how your grade in this course will be determined
  • List some of the requirements people have for something being ‘alive’
  • Explain very basically what the field of artificial life tries to do

Advanced Learning Objectives

After class, you should be able to:

  • List the assignments and structure of the class
  • Define (as much as anyone can) the terms artificial life and digital evolution
  • List some of the subfields of artificial life
  • Reflect on your own requirements for something being ‘alive’

Readings

To achieve the basic learning objectives, you should read the following:

Checks

Complete the following:

  • Join CampusWire and post an introduction in “General” with the following:
    • Your preferred name and optionally your pronouns
    • Your class year
    • Why you decided to take this class/what you’re hoping to get out of this class
    • One hobby/thing you like to do for fun