Passing the ALife Test: Activity Statistics Classify Evolution in Geb as Unbounded

Bedau and Packard’s evolutionary activity statistics [1, 2] are used to classify the evolutionary dynamics in Geb [3, 4], a system designed to verify and extend theories behind the generation of evolutionary emergent systems. The result is that, according to these statistics, Geb exhibits unbounded evolutionary activity, making it the first autonomous artificial system to pass this test. However, having passed it, the most prudent course of action is to look for weaknesses in the test. Two weaknesses are identified and approaches for overcoming them are proposed.