Genetic Programming: Biologically Inspired Computation that Creatively Solves Non-Trivial Problems

This paper describes a biologically inspired domain-independent technique, called genetic programming, that automatically creates computer programs to solve problems. Starting with a primordial ooze of thousands of randomly created computer programs, genetic programming progressively breeds a population of computer programs over a series of generations using the Darwinian principle of natural selection, recombination (crossover), mutation, gene duplication, gene deletion, and certain mechanisms of developmental biology. The technique is illustrated by applying it to a non-trivial problem involving the automatic synthesis (design) of a lowpass lter circuit. The evolved results are competitive with human-produced solutions to the problem. In fact, four of the automatically created circuits exhibit human-level creativity and inventiveness, as evidenced by the fact that they correspond to four inventions that were patented between 1917 and 1936.