On Population Size and Neutrality: Facilitating the Evolution of Evolvability

The role of population size is investigated within a neutrality induced local optima free search space. Neutrality decouples genotypic variation in evolvability from fitness variation. Population diversity and neutrality work in conjunction to facilitate evolvability exploration whilst restraining its loss to drift, ultimately facilitating the evolution of evolvability. The characterising dynamics and implications are discussed.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: EUROGP
• Authors: Richard M. Downing
• Keywords: EUROGP 2007, Evolvability, Evolvability Exploration, Neutrality Work