A Procedure for Testing for Tokyo Type 1 Open-Ended Evolution

Abstract

Tokyo Type 1 open-ended evolution (OEE) is a category of OEE that includes systems exhibiting the ongoing generation of adaptive novelty and ongoing growth in complexity. It can be considered as a necessary foundation for Tokyo Type 2 OEE (ongoing evolution of evolvability) and Tokyo Type 3 OEE (ongoing generation of major transitions). This article brings together five methods of analysis to form a procedure for testing for Tokyo Type 1 OEE. The procedure is presented as simply as possible, isolated from the complexities of any particular evolutionary system, and with a clear rationale for each step. In developing these steps, we also identify five key challenges in OEE. The last of these (achieving a higher order of complexity growth within a system exhibiting indefinitely scalable complexity) can be considered a grand challenge for Tokyo Type 1 OEE. Promising approaches to this grand challenge include also achieving one or both of Tokyo Types 2 and 3 OEE; this can be seen as one answer to why these other types of OEE are important, providing a unified view of OEE.

Keywords: Open-ended evolution; evolutionary activity statistics; indefinite scalability; open problems in Artificial Life; unbounded evolutionary dynamics; unified views of evolution.