Exercises

1. (a) Read carefully and explore the material about the Game of Life in Ref.[2].
   (b) Run the Applet in Ref.[3] using the A-plus starting configuration. Identify some examples of static, periodic, moving, and breeding configurations. Convince yourself that the figures conform to the rules of the Game.
   (c) Try other starting configurations and see if you can find lifelike, self-replicating structures. (You can also vary the rules of the Game).
2. (a) Explain the words "self-organisation" and "emergence" with examples drawn from the game of Life.
   (b) Explain why the complex pattern formation, especially those due to oscillators and breeders, seen in the Game of Life does not contradict the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
   (c) Explain in what sense the pattern formation in the Game of Life differs from real life: That is, what characteristics of living organisms are missing from those artificial creations ?
3. (a) Check out the results of Resnick's termite simulation in Ref.[4].
   (b) Explore the Java termite simulation in Ref.[5].
   (c) Look at the simulation results from other systems in Ref.[6] and discuss in what sense they are or are not realsitic and whether they do or do not exhibit self-organisation.
4. (a) Try to justify in "biological terms" the four boid rules in the text.
   (b) Are there other animals that plausibly obey similar rules ?
5. (a) Download and explore the 3D Boid simulation program from Ref.[7].
   (b) Explore the fish flocking plus predator simulation at Ref.[8].
   (c) Explore some of the other simulations in Ref.[9].
   (d) Do the simulations in (b,c) appear a realistic modelling of animal herding/schooling/flocking behaviour ?
   (e) In what sense do the models exhibit self-organisation and emergence ?
   (f) Could there be reasons other than those used in the models which explain the above behaviour of real animals ?
   
6. (a) Contrast the random element in the termite model with the ant model discussed in the text.
   (b) What other significant conceptual differences are there between the termite model and the ant model ?
   (c) What adavntages are there in many simple agents cooperating to perform a complex task as in ant and termite colonies ? (d) Discuss the advantages of parallelism and redundancy in the functioning of the human brain and compare with the ant colony.
7. (a)Read the Introduction and Chapter 1 of Ref.[11], the article by Kirman [12], and the article in Ref.[16] and engage in a critical discussion.
   (b) With regard to the ant behaviour above, explain how the system remains out-of-equilibrium.
8. Read the article [13] and discuss the applications mentioned there. Can you think of more efficient ways of solving those problems ?
9. Check out the websites in Ref.[14]. Try the ant-colony simulation. Does it appear realistic ?
10. In what sense is the self-organisation displayed in the models above similar to the "spontaneous magnetisation" displayed by the Ising Model ?