Illinois Genetic Algorithms Laboratory

Kosorukoff, A., Goldberg, D.E. (2001)
TR No.: 2001005 | Download PDF | Download PS

Abstract:
Since their invention, genetic algorithms have been used primarily for solving problems
in different areas of engineering and technology. In most of these areas genetic
algorithms were applied successfully and shifted the frontier between what is possible
and what is impossible, solving problems that were even hard to approach with
conventional deterministic methods.
Recent social applications of genetic algorithms challenge our usual way of thinking
about social systems. Instead of old concepts of social engineering, based on
deterministic mechanical constructivism, genetic algorithms and other methods of
evolutionary computation open new approaches to the same issue. These methods allow us
to substitute fixed structures of our organizations with free forms which are soft and
evolving. This paper contains two examples, and some conclusions from this case study.
The main conclusion is that GAs have already passed beyond only their technical
applications to artificial systems, they are ready to come into the real world of
living systems and even have made the first steps in this direction.