So, what goes in on there? What drives X 74? Well, read on and be amazed (or not). I have
several (quite distinct) interests, but in some sort of way they are all connected. Down below
is a list of topics that always know how to interest me (links ending with
> go to other pages of mine):
Artificial life & artificial intelligence
Robotics >
(Science) fiction
(Science) fact
Fiction fact
Simulations (of lots of things)
Music & songtexts >
These links will bring you to even more info on these subjects:
My page of cool links (to sites of these
topics) >
My own pages, dealing with these
subjects >
Artificial life and artificial intelligence
All stuff that has anything to do with artificial life and artificial intelligence (how original...), if simple enough for me to grasp. That is: if simple enough for me to program or simulate on my own computer.
So, I have made a few attempts at writing some AL and AI programs. But... well, I try! Anyway, so far nothing more than a 'dumb' (non-learning) neural network and some not-so-tough AL-programs (like the original Conway's Life algorithm). All this because I do not (yet) know that much about these topics. Other programs are however still under development.
If you are interested in them: you can download these programs; both conway's life and my neural network are available. Included in the network-package is the source code part responsible for the learning of the network. Take a look at it; maybe you know what is going wrong in there. Both programs are DOS-programs, however. Since I have not yet installed Windows (neither 3.11 nor '95), it's quite hard for me to develop or test a program with a Windows-interface.
Hints on how to make that stupid network behave a little bit more intelligent? Please, contact me at [email protected]
I have made (or tried to make) quite a lot of simulation programs. Most of them are not finished yet, since I tend to get disinterested in a problem quite soon when I have spend enough time on it. Other reasons for them to be half-finished is just because I was too ambitious when I decided to try to simulate the problem: most problems are probably too complicated for me to solve anyway.
To give you an idea of what kind of stuff I have 'under development':
Biot:
small simulated robots in a 2D world, whose shape and motion and such are all determined via a
genetic code (which is subjected to evolution, of course...);
ECAL:
started as Easy Computer Assembler Language (after an idea from the EXCELLENT C++-learning book
by Deitel & Deitel); a sort of program that simulated a simplified processor, that you
could write programs for. Turns out it is becoming a simulation of the 80486-processor...
Evolver:
originally written in Q-BASIC quite a while ago, but now being re-written and updated into
Pascal 7.0. It simulates a 2D field with a lot of rabbits and a single fox, which all have a
set of characteristics (like maximum speed, energy efficiency, turning speed and much more),
which are all genetically determined. Let the fox go on a frenzy, start mating with the 90%
surviving rabbit population, and continue the cycle.
Genetic:
my masterpiece (when it finally starts working, that is...). Ever heard of Tierra? Well, since
I did, but couldn't get my hands on the program, I decided to make it myself. I have started
with an alternative approach, however. The simulation is about micro-organisms (one-cell
entities), that all have one 'DNA'-strand, and a lot of 'proteins'. I tried to keep the
simulation as close to the original (=nature) as possible. To give you an idea of how it is
supposed to look like in the future: proteins can bind to the DNA, can start searching for
specific DNA code sequences, and can start copying DNA (and thus create other proteins). Each
protein consists of a set of 'amino acids', which have become separate sequential instructions
instead. Possible instructions: bind to DNA; drop from DNA; copy DNA; search code on DNA; etc.
This program will really becomes interesting when I have implemented the basic functionality to
keep the cells reproducing and evolving; then I will start adding operations like 'reserve
memory', 'write to disk', 'become memory resident' and such. Real live cells will be the
result, which coexist along with you on your computer.
Ionic:
a try-out that I developed when I was studying a course about crystal structures and
self-organizing molecules. It is a simulation of a (large) amount of ions with all sorts of
characteristics, that (in time) will move and slide over each other due to physical laws, to
create a real 3D crystal structure. Turned out my computer wasn't powerful enough to do all the
calculations on a set of ions large enough to be relevant...
Solve:
a program that will solve ANY problem, as long as the problem can be written into a standard
input file format. The method for the solving part is to work through all possibilities, whilst
evaluating relevant paths to take (or not to take). I used it for a chess-problem, but the
amount of possible paths was so large, it would have taken my computer about 3 million years
(lowest estimate boundary). Well, I didn't want to wait that long, so I am now starting to add
some intelligent decision-routines into it.
Suggestions? Corrections? Remarks? Contact me at [email protected]
Well, what must I say? Tolkien to Star Trek to King. How broad can you make it? As long as the stuff is too incredible to be real, but still reeks of reality, it has won me over.
Tolkien.
Best writer of fairy tale like fantasy I know of. It all started with the Hobbit for me, when I
had to read some books for my English book list in secundary school. Now, I'm trying to add all
three parts of the 'Lord of the rings'-trilogy to my book collection.
Stephen King.
This author is quite supreme in sketching credible situations, even though they tend to be
quite fantastic. I started with Stephen King already on an early age, and thus my collection of
his books is quite large (but then he has written quite a lot). Best books so far (I think) are
Pet Semetary and the Dark Tower cyclus.
James Herbert.
This (famous?) English horror & fantasy writer has written some quite excellent books. If you
are not familiar with him, try to get hold of a copy of 'Moon' or of 'The magic cottage'.
Star Trek
(especially 'Next generation' & 'Deep space nine'). These series are quite fictious, although
it's base is quite scientific. To what extend it is (or could be) real, I do not know, but that
doesn't really matter. It is already superb the way it is.
Star Wars Trilogy.
The best science fiction movies I have ever seen. I have seen all three films already at least
four times each, but every time they really impress me. Especially the second (fourth) one (The
empire strikes back), of which you can see a screen shot here.
Space: above and beyond.
I have just started watching this series, but it all seems quite promising. They first showed
it on the BBC (British television), but now they also started the series on the Dutch
television.
Twin Peaks.
This one started of just like any ordinary drama-like series, but quite soon there were more
and more hints of some supernatural element being present behind the scenes. In the end it all
became an orgie of weird stuff, but the story was build up quite slowly towards this point (so
that it was all quite realistic). I'm still waiting for a re-run of this series on the
television, but this is the one series they still have not replayed yet.
Twilight zone.
The first series I saw that I was instantly addicted to. It all started for me at quite an
early age, so this might be the reason my interests are the way they are. Later on, they gave
more re-runs of the series on the Dutch television, but they never showed the 'scary' ones
anymore (only the weird 'soft' ones). Quite a disappointment.
The outer limits.
Some episodes are a sort of copy of the twilight zone on some moments, but the episodes are
first of all much longer (full 45 minute episodes, no 15-minute stories), and second of all
they are more 'down to earth'. Amazing series: the topics range from robotics to
extra-terestial life to spirits to ...
The X-files.
Very good series in the beginning, although the episodes are becoming more of the same stuff
nowadays. The same goes for this series as for the 'Outer Limits'.
The world of experimental (physical) science is almost too unreal to be real. That's probably what generates my interest in this field. Quantum mechanics, Strings theory, you name it. It is all so great: make up a theory (like QM), look a little bit closer to the formula's you made up, and find out that very weird things are also possible in nature. Test these new fenomenon, and find out that it's all actually happening under your fingers.
(This section will be enlarged in the nearby future: it's not that I'm not interested enough to write a lot, it's just that I do not know what to write about; I can explain the theories behind QM here, but there are a lot of other sites doing a much greater job than I can do, and it will probably not interest you anyway...).
Considering the amount of 'weird' things that revolutionary theories (like QM, Strings, etc.; see above part) come up with, you may ask yourself whether or not your view of the world is too short-sighted. Therefore I try to keep my eyes/mind as open as possible for the 'unexplained' and 'unreal', until proven guilty. Therefore the 'pseudo'-scientific research interests me quite a lot.
This field of research generates weird phenomena and theories at the speed of light, which are mostly too difficult (if even possible) to prove, in all the traditional fields of research (in which the physics are most prominent and the most interesting). The main characteristic of this kind of research is however that it is quite 'revolutionary': they all deal with the revolutionary things that are possible in nature (or so believed), that the 'real' scientists do not believe yet.
A list of (fiction?) (fact?) pages is listed below. I do not know how much of them actually
contain real possible facts; what I do know is that these pages are interesting to read.
Keelynet;
Weird Science;
Zenergy's list of links.
The last link is a link to a site containing quite a large amount of links to alike sites. The
first two sites can both be accessed from this page, and both also contain lists of further
links.
If you are also interested in one or more of the above subjects, pay a visit at my index page. From here, you will be able to access all my other pages, all dealing with the above mentioned subjects.
If you find the time to press on a button, please give me some feedback on this page. You can express your likings for this page via the buttons below. Note that the message is transmitted via e-mail, so your browser is probably going to protest about 'insecure data posting'. Ignore this.