Re:Genetic Algorithms Produce Winning StarCraft II Build Ord...
by tripzilch on Tuesday March 25, 2014 @01:16PM
(#7467192)
> Hill climbing is far simpler and virtually always works better. In fact I've yet to see a practical case where GAs work better than simple randomized hill climbing.
Thank you for saying this.
Realizing this is sort of similar to the time when I first learned about how standard error-backprop neural networks really work, and I realized that they're "just" a stochastic optimization algo and not really actually "smart like a brain" that can learn everything (I was young :) ).
About, a "practical case" where GAs work better, I'm going to go with (generative/digital) art projects. The fact that a GA is sort of based on a simulation of a biological process lends extra flavour to an art piece that is somehow crafted using a GA, more so than if it had used hill-climbing or brute force. It'll help ask questions like "who is the artist here?" and "what is creativity" and "can a computer be alive?" etc etc.
Thank you for saying this.
Realizing this is sort of similar to the time when I first learned about how standard error-backprop neural networks really work, and I realized that they're "just" a stochastic optimization algo and not really actually "smart like a brain" that can learn everything (I was young :) ).
About, a "practical case" where GAs work better, I'm going to go with (generative/digital) art projects. The fact that a GA is sort of based on a simulation of a biological process lends extra flavour to an art piece that is somehow crafted using a GA, more so than if it had used hill-climbing or brute force. It'll help ask questions like "who is the artist here?" and "what is creativity" and "can a computer be alive?" etc etc.