{"id":2857,"date":"2021-07-22T16:42:31","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T16:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alife.org\/?post_type=encyclopedia&p=2857"},"modified":"2021-11-09T23:09:20","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T23:09:20","slug":"avida","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/alife.org\/encyclopedia\/digital-evolution\/avida\/","title":{"rendered":"Avida"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Avida Digital Evolution<\/a> Platform is an open-source artificial life<\/a> system that has been used to conduct a wide range of studies on evolutionary dynamics <\/span>. In Avida, self-replicating computer programs compete for space on a lattice of cells. When an organism reproduces, its offspring is placed in a nearby cell (or in a random cell if the population is well-mixed), replacing any previous occupant of that cell.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Avida<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>Versions<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>Avida 2<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Avida 2 is hosted on GitHub at https:\/\/github.com\/devosoft\/avida<\/a>. Currently, this is the most actively used version of Avida. It allows a wide-range of experiments to be performed purely by editing the configuration files, making it relatively accessible to non-programmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>Avida 3<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Avida 3 only ever existed in prototype form, but was a valuable step towards re-conceptualizing how to better organize the Avida codebase. It is noted here to explain the version numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>Avida 4<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Avida 4 is a highly efficient re-implementation of Avida that prioritizes speed over friendliness to new users. It is available on GitHub at https:\/\/github.com\/dknoester\/avida4<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>Avida 5<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This version is currently under active development by Charles Ofria and has not yet been released. It seeks to unite the efficiency of Avida 4 with the usability of Avida 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>Avida-ED<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The educational version of Avida<\/a>, which has been used in a wide range of classrooms in high schools and colleges. It lets students conduct their own digital evolution experiments, facilitating improved understanding of evolution as evidence-based science <\/span>. Curricula and lesson plans have been developed to accompany Avida-ED <\/span>, and it runs entirely in a browser to facilitate easy classroom use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Avida-ED project was the recipient of the 2017 ISAL Education and Outreach Award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avida-ED is available at https:\/\/avida-ed.msu.edu\/app\/AvidaED.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>Studies using Avida<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Organized by primary topic area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>Complexity<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The evolutionary origin of complex features<\/strong>: This landmark paper used Avida to show that evolution is capable of producing complex features. Specifically, such features can arise when it is advantageous to first evolve a series of simpler “building block” features that are related to the more complex ones <\/span>. Prior to this paper and some related work, creationists had argued that such a process was impossible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other papers on complexity and complex features include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n