Dissertation.
Okay, you remember how last week I was all panicky? It turns out I had the power within me ALL ALONG.
I had: A world in which virtual robots could be placed.
I now have: 3 versions of said virtual world, each populated with 4 robots, each of which have 2 distinct behaviours. Each world's webots have different ways of changing behaviours: in world one, they change on a timer. In world 2, they communicate at short ranges about their behaviour, and switch to uncommonly seen behaviours. In world 3, they constantly communicate globally, and switch to uncommonly seen behaviours.
As a result, worlds one and three have poor distribution of behaviours, and world 2 displays emergent behaviour in that there are at almost all times 2 webots performing each behaviour.
Which is EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED!
I can actually write this up now. Emergent behaviour due to short-range communication and limited memory! I HAVE CREATED LIFE!
I had: A world in which virtual robots could be placed.
I now have: 3 versions of said virtual world, each populated with 4 robots, each of which have 2 distinct behaviours. Each world's webots have different ways of changing behaviours: in world one, they change on a timer. In world 2, they communicate at short ranges about their behaviour, and switch to uncommonly seen behaviours. In world 3, they constantly communicate globally, and switch to uncommonly seen behaviours.
As a result, worlds one and three have poor distribution of behaviours, and world 2 displays emergent behaviour in that there are at almost all times 2 webots performing each behaviour.
Which is EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED!
I can actually write this up now. Emergent behaviour due to short-range communication and limited memory! I HAVE CREATED LIFE!