All life systems have a basic fuel, a resource which the ‘organism’ cannot live without. For corporations, it’s money. For computer programs, it’s programmer attention. If the system runs out of fuel, it dies. A system is probably in a good state if it’s generating its own fuel, instead of relying on charity/theft.
Sometimes I add visual flourishes to this program I’m working on. Although I enjoy seeing them, they are not an indulgence; I am not being ‘whimsical’. I care deeply about the program’s survival, but if it does not reward me with novelty, I will lose interest and it will die.
The two large entities in the picture above are volvoxes; clusters of cells. I removed the cells themselves, and left only the connecting ‘protoplasm’. This is similar to how a large organization sometimes does not ‘see’ individual humans. They are implicitly considered irrelevant to the larger machine’s (abstract) worldview, which must exclude the unnecessary in order to function. An organism which malfunctions by failing to ignore the unnecessary is called ‘neurotic’.
I revisited Sumas and Nubas today. Mostly I researched single-celled organisms, though I made some changes to the code as well:
- New color scheme: blue background (“water”), green nubas (“chloroplasts”), tan sumas.
- Elements are drawn more realistically: no black borders, and sumas are ellipses instead of squares.
- When a suma dies, it fades away instead of instantly vanishing.
- Nubas are 1/4 the size, instead of roughly the same size as the sumas, who eat them.
Future goals:
- Add collision detection, so two sumas cannot occupy the same space.
- Refine suma locomotion, so they have to swim toward their food instead of starting and stopping on a dime / instantly changing direction.
- Sumas should asexually reproduce when they’ve eaten enough food, instead of “playing” (spinning in a circle).
- Allow sumas to ‘team up’ into multicellular organisms.
Sumas and Nubas.
The Sumas (“survival machines”) go after the Nubas (“nutrition balls”). When they catch one, it increases their energy. Each Suma is constantly deciding which Nuba to try to eat based on how far away and how big it is. If a Suma gains enough energy, it will start spinning in a circle… but not for long, because it’s always running out of energy.
The sad thing is, if its energy hits zero, it dies.
This simulation started out with 50 Sumas.
:(
