Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Who, What, Where, When, and Why

In this paper, we start by providing a gentle introduction to the field of genetic and evolutionary computation, particularly focusing on genetic algorithms, but also touching upon other areas. We then move on to briefly analyse the geographic distribution

GeneticandEvolutionaryComputation:Who,What,Where,When,andWhy

DepartmentofComputerEngineering

UniversityofParma,Italycagnoni@ce.unipr.it

StefanoCagnoni

DepartmentofComputerScience

UniversityofEssex,UKrpoli@essex.ac.uk

RiccardoPoli

Abstract

Inthispaper,westartbyprovidingagentleintroduc-tiontothe eldofgeneticandevolutionarycomputa-tion,particularlyfocusingongeneticalgorithms,butalsotouchinguponotherareas.Wethenmoveontobrie yanalysethegeographicdistributionofresearchexcellenceinthis eld,focusingourattentionspeci -callyonItalianresearchers.Wethenpresentourowninterpretationofwhereandhowgeneticandevolution-arycomputation tsinthebroaderlandscapeofarti- cialintelligenceresearch.Weconcludebymakingapredictionofthefutureimpactofthistechnologyintheshortterm.

Introduction

Darwinianevolutionisprobablythemostintriguingandpowerfulmechanismofnaturemankindhaseverdiscovered.Itspowerisevidentintheimpressivelevelofadaptationreachedbyallspeciesofanimalsandplantsinnature.Itisintriguingbecausedespiteitssimplicityandrandomnessitproducesincrediblecom-plexityinawaythatappearstobeverydirected,al-mostpurposeful.Likeforotherpowerfulnaturalphe-nomena,itisnosurprisethenthatseveraldecadesagoafewbrilliantresearchersinengineeringandcomputersciencestartedwonderingwhethertheycouldstealthesecretsbehindDarwinianevolutionandusethemtosolveproblemsofpracticalinterestinavarietyofap-plicationdomains.Thesepeoplewerepioneersofanew eld,whichaftermorethan30yearsfromitsinceptionisnowbigandwellestablishedandgoesunderthenameofGeneticandEvolutionaryComputation(GEC).

Analmostendlessnumberofresultsandapplicationsofevolutionaryalgorithmshavebeenreportedinthelit-eraturethatshowthattheideasofthesepioneerswereindeedright.Nowadaysevolutionarytechniquescanroutinelysolveproblemsindomainssuchasautomaticdesign,optimisation,patternrecognition,controlandmanyothers.

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