Using Video Games to Simulate Evolution

10:37 “Sometimes they succeed in tripping the AI up.” Throws a 1/2 ton crate at it, proclaims victory.

EvoSims are just.. so mesmerizing to watch. Seeing an entire virtual ecosystem come to life and evolve before your very eyes, in real time, is unspeakably satisfying.

Imagine being in class and your teacher says, “Alright guys, today we are going to learn about evolution. Pull out your gaming setups.”

Another thing I want to mention about Thrive is that they've only just recently started taking tentative steps towards multicellular gameplay, it's fascinating to see this game that realistically should've only existed in the dreams of gamers slowly but surely coming to fruition

I knew it. Playing video games is the key to ensuring the future success of humanity.

I would have never expected him to cover evolution simulators but it makes so much sense that he did

I literally bought a gaming PC to play spore... I remember the strange feeling playing it, of being both profoundly disappointed given what I'd expected, yet still very much in love with the cute silly little game it was. To this day nothing has ever lived up to what I thought that game would be.

11:12 - Spore! I remember it being 2008 (when iPhones were totally new) and yeah, the hype behind Spore was insane. I couldn't afford it so a friend gave me a pirated copy on a disc and I loved it but it definitely wasn't what I was expecting 😅

As a programmer, I have absolutely loved creating life simulations, along with neural networks. The ability to watch an ecosystem or species evolve, live, move, and learn, is absolutely wonderful. It's like watching millions of years of evolution go by in a few minutes or hours. It also shows parallels, with how even us people and the plants/animals around us are all just made of basic molecules, which just react to the things around them and move, which makes us able to do things. Wonderful video, I love every one, keep up the great work CA! 👍

Imagine your simulated lifeform evolved so much that it realized it lives in a simulation

It’s evolvin’ time.

Just like you said in the ending, the future of this genre looks VERY big I would go as far as to say that this kinda of game/experiment is what will really blend the line of "What is Life", like, not only intelligence and sentience, but all kinda of lifes in general

To me I’ve always wanted another more cartoony evolution sim like spore. I understand what games like Thrive are going for, it’s just that spore is fun, and it has charm.

Never been this early!!! Just wanted to say love your content, you’re the channel that first got me into speculative biology and I could never thank you enough.

evolution is so simple yet so complex at the same time

if you're reviewing more spec evo stuff how about Tribbetherium's "Hamster's Paradise"? It's like Serina but with hamsters instead of canaries and we get stuff like lizard-like hamsters that fly with wings made of modified hair, or giant hamster mammoths called hammoths, and there's also a warmongering intelligent race of Skaven-like hamsters called Harmsters. it's some crazy stuff and a fun read

the soft bodied creatures at around 9:14 kinda looks like the in silico models they used in the making of the Xenobots, even with the contracting (heart muscle)/passive (epidermal) cells and the generally cube-y form. I wonder if the two projects are actually linked

10:16 Gen 80 is vibin

9:00 i love little wiggling squares

Now this, this is fascinating as hell! (This is nothing against the darker, more post-apocalyptic videos, but I mostly come to this channel for much more "natural" type content)