I have been sick in bed since Sunday and Carita won't let me work. So I downloaded a preview of Spore, a video game I have been reading about. It allows you to design your very own species and apparently guide its evolution from a single cell to a space-faring civilization. It is supposed to be released in the fall. For now you can download the "creature creator".
I designed an animal I call a Blabigail which is pictured below. I have no idea yet how it will do in the real world of virtual survival of the fittest. To be honest, I am not sure if I find this interesting enough to get the full game.
I doubt that there is any agenda behind this game other than to make something entertaining that will sell (it is from the creator of SimCity). Of course, its presuppositions are darwinian. But the free preview is called the "creature creator". Certain verbal ticks are hard to avoid.
I wondered how much randomness was built into the process. It is hard to say with the small peek allowed at this stage, but so far the players control is fairly god-like. Well, a lesser divinity since you are limited to the menu items the omnipotent game designer has chosen.
Which leads me to wonder out loud if it is possible for a serious scientist to do computer modeling of an evolutionary process that isn't ultimately an argument for intelligent design.
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