This paper presents results of measuring evolution in a simple ALife system. Interpretation of these results is based on the notion of dynamical systems. This approach enables the discovery of periods of high evolutionary activity, which can be treated as evolutionary transitions. Attempts were also made to locate possible cycles of trajectory in the genome phase space, and it was concluded that there were no such cycles. These results demonstrate the usefulness of a dynamical systems approach in analyzing the dynamics of artificial evolution and provide suggestions for further development.
Mikhail S. Burtsev