Scientists Continue Path of Darwinian Evolution for RobotsNicholas West One recent development aims to move beyond mere computational horsepower and incorporate the principles of Darwinian evolution in order to naturalize the process of robot evolution. This initiative has become evident in the European Unions cloud network called RoboEarth where robots can do their own research, communicate with one another, and collectively increase their intelligence by mimicking family and cultural learning. This drive for embedding evolutionary principles into robotics formed the cornerstone of the next phase of research begun at the University of Wyomings Evolving Artificial Intelligence Lab, seen in the video below, where the stated goal is to introduce survival of the fittest to hopefully break through current evolutionary barriers toward fully intelligent robots. As you heard, willful procreation is a natural outcome. This has been echoed by George Zarkadakis, an artificial intelligence engineer, who believes that intelligent robots will move toward procreation as they desire to produce superior offspring. Through a simple software swap, new intelligence could be created, as well as the likelihood of other upgrades like virus protection. Incidentally, the organic component of this is also being researched by geneticists as downloadable DNA via our own human Internet. Just as we humans wish that our own children become healthier, more intelligent and longer-lived versions of ourselves, so too will increasingly self-aware robotic systems. The research at the University of Wyoming has embraced this potential. Further commenting on the potential of the mutations and code swaps, lead researcher Jeff Clune stated: However, robots that rival their human counterparts is exactly the scenario that is being warned about. Some of the many unintended consequences erupting from a superintelligence have been articulated by Nick Bostrom. The response to a rival humanity by this superintelligence could involve operational enslavement or eradication, just as it has among animal and human groups throughout history. Despite such tech luminaries as Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk being moved by Bostroms research and existential concern, research continues apace. A similar program from Michigan State University uses genetic algorithms operating on a mathematical framework called Markov networks to model a large population of robot brains working on a particular task, like finding the exit to a maze. The brains that perform the task best have the largest number of simulated offspring.' Researchers point to the ability to easily speed up the process of natural selection, which could theoretically produce intelligence and consciousness in the relatively near term. Team leader, Chris Adami, specifically cites the ability to equip a new robot brain with the results from hundreds of thousands of generations. Once equipped, robots can illustrate marked evolutionary principles such as cooperation and, eventually, self-awareness. Adami then issues a rather tepid dismissal of those who are worried about what these conscious robots would exactly wish to accomplish: At best, we see that there is certainty about the birth of conscious and self-aware robots operating on the principles of survival of the fittest and that humanity has a hopeful stay of execution date in a decade or two. Sources: Recently by Nicholas West: 