tion of the particular gene combination
with the greatest fitness. But sexual reproduction, which switches genes from
one generation to the next, leads to a
different outcome: the gene versions
that dominate are those that give the
greatest average fitness no matter which
other gene version they are paired with.
Sex, in other words, promotes genes
that are good mixers with other genes,
and a versatile gene may be more valuable, from an evolutionary perspective,
than one that works very well in some
combinations but much worse in others. Hence, the new model provides a
specific and quantitative accounting of
one useful aspect of sex.
Today, computer scientists are doing
far more than helping other scientists
run their numerical models more effectively. The theory of computation has
become such a sophisticated science in
its own right that computer scientists
are now making intellectual contributions to a wide range of other disciplines, including evolutionary theory,
physics, and economics.
evolutionary theory
Over the years, evolutionary theory has
drawn on ideas from engineering,
mathematics, and physics, so it’s hardly
surprising that computer scientists are
now also making substantial contributions. “Evolution is such a broad topic
[that] it really benefits from a range of
approaches,” says Sally P. Otto, an evolutionary biologist at the University of
British Columbia. One noteworthy example of collaboration by biologists
and computer scientists Otto cites is the
evolutionary theory
has drawn on ideas
from engineering,
mathematics,
and physics.
now computer
scientists are also
making substantial
contributions.
artificial life software platform Avida, in
which bits of code act as “organisms”
able to replicate and evolve. If the model is setup so that digital organisms gain
more processing speed by being able to
add two numbers, for example, then the
ability to add appears and proliferates,
even though it was not specifically programmed in.
But if computer science is addressing
the puzzle of sex, then sex has also done
something for computer science, in the
form of genetic algorithms that address
optimization problems by evolving can-
didate solutions in a manner inspired
by genetic recombination. However,
these algorithms are not always good
at reaching the solution a computer
scientist wants. “Nature’s favorite trick
yields bad optimizers,” says Papadimi-
triou, and it is this mystery that got him
started on the research that led him to
conclude that sex promotes mixability,
not fitness. That distinction illustrates a
difference in perspective; to a computer
scientist, an algorithm has performed
its job once it has produced a solution.
To a biologist, on the other hand, a “so-
lution” is a stable configuration that
doesn’t just appear once, but survives
and prospers over many generations.
Because evolution is so complex and, by
definition, an ongoing process, “biolo-
gists have given up on having complete
solutions,” Otto says.
Data;Management
The Digital Universe Keeps Expanding
between 2010 and 2020, the
amount of digital information
created and replicated in the
world will grow to 35 trillion
gigabytes as the major types of
media—print, radio, TV, and
voice—make the transition from
analog to digital, according to
a new idC report The Digital
Universe Decade—Are You Ready?
written by John F. Gantz
and david reinsel, the report
notes the amount of digital
information created and
replicated in the world, which
idC calls “the digital Universe,”
grew by 62% last year to nearly
800,00 petabytes, despite a
global recession. This year, idC
expects the digital Universe will
grow almost as fast to 1. 2 million
petabytes. This steady growth
means the digital universe in
2020 will be 44 times as big
as it was in 2009. Meanwhile,
the number of information
containers—packets, files,
images, and so on—in 2020
will be 25 quintillion.
“although the amount of
information in the digital
Universe will grow by a factor of
44, and the number of containers
or files will grow by a factor of 67
from 2009 to 2020, the number
of i T professionals in the world
will grow only by a factor of 1. 4,”
according to idC.
The relevant issues that must
be considered, idC says, include
“developing tools for research
and discovery of information as
the digital Universe expands,
including finding ways to add
structure to unstructured data
through metadata, automatic
content tagging, and pattern
recognition”; deploying tools
for new levels of information
management and prioritized
storage; and deploying tools and
expertise for security and privacy
projection for a growing portion
of the digital Universe in hybrid
physical/virtual environments.”
—Jack Rosenberger
