Tangen, Uwe. “A computational model for functional evolution.” In Prerational Intelligence: Adaptive Behavior and Intelligent Systems Without Symbols and Logic, Volume 1, Volume 2 Prerational Intelligence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Behavior of Natural and Artificial Systems, Volume 3 , pp. 758-779. Springer, Dordrecht, 2000.
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John von Neumann’s theoretical constructions (von Neumann 1966) and Conway’s famous “game of life” (Berlekamp et al. 1984) are precursors in this approach to study the question of how life could arise. John von Neumann (1966) was the first to appreciate the problem of complexity in evolution. Henry Atlan (1987) and Peter Grassberger (Grassberger 1987, 1989) concluded that complexity is inherently involved in meaning and therefore very hard to handle in a general way. It is not possible to say how complex a system is, if it is not clear what defines the environment and who will be the observer. This is especially difficult when measuring the complexity of computer simulations of life.