Michael G. Dyer, Ph.D. - US grants

This work will study the evolution of communication in populations of agents, situated in simple, artificial environments. The primary research methodology is experimental and task-oriented in nature, involving the simulation of populations of male/female ANNs, using genetic operators (i.e. recombination, mutation and selection) that are applied to initially random populations of genotypes (which specify ANN connection weights and biases). Current simulations are being done both on computer workstations and a 16K Connection Machine (CM-2), whose massive SIMD parallelism is particularly suited to such simulations. These initial simulation studies will be headed in several direction -- ones that will support the evolution of more complex forms of communication. These directions include: (a) evolving more complex ANN architectures, (b) introducing multiple, distinct species in the environment, (c) adding simple forms of learning, metabolism and morphology, (d) augmenting our instrumentation for analysis and interpretation of the "meaning" of the dialects that evolve, and (e) increasing the complexity of the terrain and physics of the environment.

This award will support the activities of an interdisciplinary team of researchers in terms of maintenance of the Conneciton Machine of the UCLA Cognitive Science Research Program. The research resulting from this support will be in the following six areas: (a) language processing, which includes reasoning, planning, inference and search, (b) evolutionary studies in the newly emerging paradigm of artificial life, (c) simulation studies of neural networks - both synthetic and neurally plausible - for modeling memory, learning, language and vision, (d) parallel algorithms for biological image processing, for example, the manipulation of MRI images, (e) research in the fundamental mathematics and logic of parallel computation, such as the development of parallel programming language semantics, and (f) the use of parallel algorithms for scientific computing. This award will support the activities of an interdisciplinary team of researchers in terms of maintenance of the Conneciton Machine of the UCLA Cognitive Science Research Program. The research resulting from this award will be in cognitive sciences and in the development of parallel computation.

This small grant for exploratory research will support investigation of the use of media-rich instrumented environments in the performing and media arts. Using as the driver application a specific large-scale performance work, based on Homer's The Iliad, this project will begin development of a distributed control system. An important aspect of this system will be the ability of the audience to interact with the performance environment. Participants start their experience through a survey on a website, which populates a database used throughout the performance process. In the venue itself, which consists of a gallery as well as performance spaces, participants will be linked to their database records using standard radio frequency identification tags in their tickets, which are read by ubiquitous antennas. Media and story choices in the space will be adapted, based on the particular audience members attending on the particular day. As the experience progresses, the database will be updated with sensor data and images collected from the performance. The responsive environment is created by the interconnection of the database, sensors, and automated production equipment for the control of lighting, sound, motorized scenery, and video or image projection.

In the information society of the twenty-first century, technologies to manage, enable, and advance cultural innovation will be among the most valuable assets of civilization. This project will explore an emerging area that could be of great commercial, social, and scientific importance in the coming decades.