Evolutionary Computer Circuit Design (and the Singularity ;)

[kojikun]

Ripped from New Scientist. I think the fact that this rapid leap in design
ability (twice as fast, half as large) took place over a 5 day period is a very
profound push towards the Singularity. I believe that this is the advance
that pushes humanity over the edge and past the Event Horizon into the
world of feedback circuit design.

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Circuit design evolving in distributed digital world

18:03 31 July 03

NewScientist.com news service


A digital simulation of natural selection, taking place in scores of
internet-linked personal computers, is being used to evolve superior
electronic circuits.

The calculations used to improve circuit design would normally be
performed on a single powerful computer or a large cluster of machines.
But Miguel Garvie, a research student at the University of Sussex in the UK,
has developed software that lets ordinary computer users contribute their
spare processing power to create a virtual evolutionary environment for the
project.

Such "distributed computing" is already providing cheap but substantial
computer power to the search for alien messages in radio signals from
space and to the quest for the largest prime numbers.

In the five days since the project was launched, Garvie says he has
evolved circuits that outperform commercial designs on standard tests by
100 per cent but are only 50 per cent larger.

"It's gone as far as conventional circuits and beyond," he told New Scientist.
"The plan is to go with bigger and bigger circuits, which is why I started the
distributed project."


Random mutations


It is crucial for certain types of circuits to be able to raise an alarm if there
has been an error in the fabrication process. This removes the need for
costly and time-consuming testing and inspection.

Mimicking evolution via natural selection to come up with efficient solutions
to specific problems is already an established, if relatively experimental,
method of designing electronic circuits.

Evolving a new circuit design begins with a population of simple circuits with
slight and random differences in their design. A hardware simulator tests
each circuit design to identify the ones that come closest to the producing
the desired output.

The best designs are then combined - a simulation of sexual reproduction -
to produce an offspring population with further mutations, and the selection
process begins over again.


Evolutionary 'islands'


Garvie's software uses internet-connected computers to perform these
simulations. Each machine evolves its own population of circuit designs and
periodically contacts a central server to upload a couple of its best designs.

These are then distributed at random to other machines on the network
where they are added to the local population. Dividing the evolutionary
process up into different "islands" in this way guarantees greater "genetic
diversity" and better overall results, Garvie says.

Peter Young, a biologist at the University of York who also works on
evolutionary computing, says this principle has proven itself in biology. "The
idea of distributing it to a lot of computers makes a lot of sense," he told
New Scientist.

The best solutions to complex problems often result from the occasional
combination of individuals that have evolved in many diverse populations,
he says. Single populations can become stuck in an evolutionary niche that
is too highly specialised.

Even though the project has already produced some promising results,
Garvie admits that it is not yet ready for commercial use. The circuit
designs generated do not have a standard die size, for example. "It's still a
bit green," he says. But he believes it should be relatively simple to refine
the process.

[Admiral Valdemar]

W00t, Skynet here we come.

AARGH, my pocket calculator is attacking meeee!

[phongn]

Either SciAm or Discover Magazine had an article on this awhile back, quite interesting.

[Sindai]

Is the distributed processing program publicly available like SETI@home? I'd sure download it.

[kojikun]

Is the distributed processing program publicly available like SETI@home? I'd sure download it.

http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/mmg20/contrcpu.htm

[Peregrin Toker]

IN YOUR FACE, CREATIONISTS!!!

[Sindai]

Darn, when I try to start the service it gets to the end and tells me it couldn't because it terminated unexpectedly. So much for that. :p\

EDIT: nevermind, I probably just need to install java.

EDIT 2: Or...not. With Java installed it just gives me a slightly more wordy error message than before that says exactly the same thing. :p

[kojikun]

LOL Oh well Sindai.

My hope for this design method is that they use it for CPUs and motherboards and such so that Moores Law is shattered into a bajillion pieces.

[Natorgator]

Darn, when I try to start the service it gets to the end and tells me it couldn't because it terminated unexpectedly. So much for that. :p\

EDIT: nevermind, I probably just need to install java.

EDIT 2: Or...not. With Java installed it just gives me a slightly more wordy error message than before that says exactly the same thing. :p

I got the same error, so forget it

[Sindai]

Yeah. I actually ended up uninstalling Java as well just after that because IE was crashing every few minutes, instead of only once a day or so like usual. Stable my fanny...

[kojikun]

Wow, your computers suck.

but back on topic, what do you predict will be some results from such technology and what do you think will happen if it was used in a positive feedback scenario?

[Mutant Headcrab]

Well, watching techTV, there was a guy talking about Singularity. They think that We'll have super nanotechnology that will let us do whatever the hell we want.....

This isn't that same singularity is it?

[kojikun]

Well, watching techTV, there was a guy talking about Singularity. They think that We'll have super nanotechnology that will let us do whatever the hell we want.....

Martin baited that guy.

This isn't that same singularity is it?

Same singularity, different perspectives. That guy was clearly hyperoptimistic about when itll happen and what nanotechnology will cause. A lot of the things he says will come about eventually, singularity or no, due to advances in biotechnology (for the being-whatever-you-want part). The main thing with the singularity is that the creation of a super-human intelligence (or partial intelligence) will create positive feedback.

Lets go with an example. Lets say we develope a drug or something to speed up the human thought process by a factor of two. Then we administer that drug into a psychopharmocologist developing those drugs. He can complete his work in half the time and create an even better drug that makes you think twice as fast as the previous drug did. Administer the drug back into the guy. Its positive feedback. You get a result which speeds of the process of getting to that result. But it wont just benefit the psychopharmocology industry. Those same drugs could be given to scientists and engineers developing various things like organ replacement, or robotics, or stuff.

The same effect is taking place in the evolutionary computer design. Instead of of someone designing mind-altering drugs, whats happening is a computer is designing better computers. And those computers could in turn be used to design better computers.

The result of this is that over the course of a few years the rate of technological change will turn upwards drastically.

Now, as for when, 2005 might indeed be a good date, but only for the full force beginning of the singularity, not the end of it. By 2005 Intel and AMD might be using similar evolutionary design systems to make better faster CPUs. at that point we've got the full-force begining of the Singularity and it all spirals from there.

[kojikun]

btw, if youre wondering why companies like Intel or AMD use such positive feedback, think about it: its cheaper to get a computer to design a chip then for people to design a chip.

[Sindai]

Wow, your computers suck.

No argument here. Every part in the thing except the HD is two or three or more years old, and I got it used.

[Admiral Johnason]

W00t, Skynet here we come.

AARGH, my pocket calculator is attacking meeee!

Looks like all of those milita hiding in Idaho were right.