processing power increasing
dramatically as units are added,
each making use of quantum
interference to share data with
their neighbours.
Realising he was standing on
the brink of a digital revolution,
Sepulveda founded Darwin
Research Associates with what
little money he could scrape
together. He set to work
creating a massive grid of
computing power that was "more
akin to a human brain than any
form of supercomputer".
Equipped with his newly forged
tools, Sepulveda crafted himself
an intricate fractally generated
world, aptly named Darwinia.
And with that, the first tender
shoots of digital life began to
appear. The dark age of the
Protologic was over. Let there
be light!
It seems, in his fall, Sepulveda
was given quite a reality check or at least an ego check. Once
described by an unnamed friend
as "unbearably arrogant",
Sepulveda, in creating his new
world, realised that the key to
Darwinia could not be designed
purely from his own knowledge
or experience. The missing
ingredient to stir into the digital
primeval soup was a system of
evolution, that would eventually
equip Darwinia's fledgling
inhabitants, the Darwinians, with
the intelligence to flourish by
their own means.
Each assigned a strand of digital
DNA or a "Spirit", the Darwinians
are imprinted with individual
characteristics, as well as the
ability to learn through their
successes and failures in their
virtual world. Upon their death,
the Spirit is released and returns
to a central repository affectionately called "Heaven"
by Sepulveda - situated
beautifully at the centre of the
Darwinian world. Here, the
Spirits are ordered, parsed, and
re-imprinted on a new creature
for the life cycle to begin again.
This endless cycle of spiritenrichment has been the
cornerstone to evolution within
Darwinia, which has now been
running for over a decade representing thousands of
generations of Darwinians,
"each more intelligent and aware
than the last".
It's not hard to see why Darwinia
has caused such great waves.
Not only has Sepulveda
unwittingly "discovered"
quantum computing, the holy
grail of computer scientists
world-wide, but his work has
ramifications across the
spectrum of scientific disciplines:
from physics to biology;
palaeontology to sociology. Not
to mention the simply
overwhelming reaction among
theologians and ethicists.
Unsurprisingly, creating a new
life-form, digital or not, is not
without controversy. Thousands
of people are expected at the
official public "opening" of the
Darwinian theme park later this
year, and not all of them wellwishers. Security is going to
have to be very tight.
Already there has been harsh
criticism from various religious
groups, and even some faint
mumblings from animal rights
activists. They fear the poor
Darwinians are being exploited
by their "god", caged up in a
virtual zoo for all to come and
ogle at, unprotected by real
world laws.
And of course there are many
who are sceptical that what we
are seeing in Darwinia is even
Darwinia
Dr Sepulveda
Managing Director, Darwin Research Associates
life at all; that Darwinia is merely
an elaborate publicity stunt
dreamt up by a struggling
eccentric in need of an egoboost. Sepulveda himself has
no such doubts, and seems
almost unaware of his many
critics:
"By any definition that I have
read, the Darwinians are most
definitely alive. More than that, I
believe them to be as alive as
you or I or anyone else on this
planet. They are born, they live,
they communicate, they
reproduce, they die. They
learn."
He has spent the last decade
watching the Darwinian way of
life evolve, watching them pass
on stories, watching them
develop religious beliefs and
customs. It is clear that he sees
himself as a benevolent but
distant father-figure to them.
Sepulveda proudly claims that
the Darwinians have a
"fundamental respect for each
other that is far more caring than
anything I have witnessed on
this Earth".
Love him or hate him, genius or
madman, one thing that we all
have to agree on is that
Sepulveda, with his work in
Darwinia, has brought us with a
jolt headlong into a new era. An
era that is both exciting in the
new technologies that it brings,
but also sobering and even
frightening with the new
responsibilities placed upon us.
And we all have a responsibility
in this; benevolent eccentric or
not, Sepulveda has opened he
door to a new world, reaching far
beyond the realms of the mere
computer geek, and will
undoubtedly impact all of our
futures in many new and
unpredictable ways.
A new era
words by P.Perkins
"I believe the Darwinians to be as alive as you or I"
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