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 I’ve extended the due date for the check to 10pm tonight for this check only.

All of these preparation pages will have checks of some kind that you need to submit and which will be evaluated for completeness. You need to submit a complete check to earn the engagement credit for that day.

AI Policy

As a reminder, you are not allowed to use genAI to summarize or produce your reading check responses. These checks are for you to engage with the material and start thinking about things before class. It’s okay if you don’t understand everything ahead of time!

Basic Learning Objectives

These are the learning objectives that each student is responsible for having proficiency at BEFORE the class meeting.

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
  • 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’

Resources

I will always include required readings or videos. To achieve the basic learning objectives, read the following:

Checks

Submit answers to the following through Moodle:

  • Complete the Background Survey linked on Moodle
  • What is the criteria for an A in the course?
  • What does the field of artificial life try to do overall?
  • Do you think a computer program or robot could ever be truly alive? Why or why not?