Illinois Genetic Algorithms Laboratory

are usually ill-informed. The blogosphere provides regular examples of this sort of drivel, for example here and here. The first is a rant about how general purpose solvers are doomed and the second complains how machine invention is something of a Rube Goldberg machine.

If blind optimization is as inadequate as NFLers insist, how did nature evolve the incredible complexity surrounding us? And if genetic algorithms and genetic programming are so weird, how come these procedures are regularly infringing on patents of human inventors and creating new patentable gizmos?

Many of these complainants seem stuck in a time warp of GA research as it was ten years ago or so (20?). Please wake up and smell the coffee. The field of genetic and evolutionary computation is roasting hot beans, grinding them just right, and brewing a lovely cup of Joe. Instead of griping about some perceived difficulty within the bowels of our percolator, you might want to take a sip, and learn why this field, not only continues to survive, but insists on thriving, flourishing, and breathing life into research across the spectrum of human endeavor.