07Signals

PereGaea

Laslo Godel

SIGNALS

Up until now we have only looked at the relationship between the Dynism and its its Prey (some of which may be ex-Dynisms) and its Predators (which may also be ex-Dynisms, but still bigger and stronger). But what about the relationship between Dynisms themselves?

For the sake of simplicity we will assume that this has been one of simple avoidance, that is, they neither attack nor flee each other. This is effected via a ROM Production Rule that ensures they never mutually approach within a certain minimum distance. Their means of reproduction, whatever this may be, probably resembles one of the many non-contact ones of Earth such as budding or clonal egg-laying.

The new Dynism ability to recognize Actions that we saw earlier changes all that. Indeed, as we shall now see, it will bring a evolutionary force into play as powerful as the `arms race' between the Dynism and its Predators and Prey.

As we saw when we looked at how Dynisms Identify Actions, they didn't always need to see the entire Action to Identify it, just a few Configs would often be enough. With some Actions, even a single one would suffice. This is because in order to perform such Actions, a Predator or Prey would have to adopt a particular configuration before it could perform it. We saw this with the Dynism itself when we looked at its Action Route Map. Dynisms now evolve counteractions that may prevent these Actions from completing.

The Predator of course acquires the same ability. Indeed a Dynism may come to exchange a large number of such Configs with any Predator that confronts it, especially if both are evenly matched. The Predator may for instance adopt a Config that will allow it to rush its victim. If the Dynism identifies this, it may respond with a defense Config that will allow it to sidestep quickly. This may then prompt the Predator to move into an alternative Attack Config, which causes the Dynism to counter with another defense Config - or even an attack one of its own ... and so on. A physical conflict may not take place at all if one or other eventually Decides at random to retreat.
We can in fact redefine these pre-emptive Configs as PereGaea's first `Signals'. I should hasten to point out though that Signals here should not imply any sense of `intent' or `will' as they do on Earth; Predator and Prey on PereGaea merely perform and respond to them as if they were simple machines, perhaps not unlike Earth's insects.

The next evolutionary leap is not far away. Dynisms become able to perform and respond to Signals within their own species. The first of them may well be `threat' Signals like those we have just seen. Such Threat Signals would help Dynisms cope with another fundamental conflict all species have; if their numbers grow to exceed resources, Dynism must compete against Dynism to survive.

Up until now if one Dynism saw another with a Prey, its Avoidance Production Rule would have kept it away. But let's suppose that in some Dynisms this Rule is suspended when internal sensors detect low energy reserves. They will now Threaten another holding a Prey on sight. Provided the Prey doesn't escape during the following Threat exchange or any actual conflict, both Dynisms might eventually get to eat some of it, improving the chance of survival of both. This is in effect a very primitive form of sharing that, as with many of Earth's Predators like hyenas or vultures, can be very red in tooth and claw.

Before we can look at the further evolution of Signals however, I will need to describe an important mechanism the Dynism may by now also have acquired. Up to this point we have assumed that all species on PereGaea evolved solely through random mutation and natural selection. However those species which evolve a means of making the process faster and more efficient are more likely to become the Dynisms of PereGaea since they will then be able to adapt more quickly to environmental change. The specialized reproductive `Mutator' mechanism they evolve to do this therefore quickly become just as important a part of their survival armory as tooth and claw or their PereGaean equivalents.

Since there is a large number of possibilities here from hermaphroditism to sex, there seems little point in looking at any particular one in detail. We can however look at the important features all such Mutators must have in common. Some of the Dynism's inheritable characteristics must change only very slowly and minutely with each generation so as not to compromise its basic survival. These include such things as the essential functioning of its components both external and internal, from eyes and limbs to those that convert ingested Prey into energy and body substance - and certainly the perceptual mechanisms we have been looking at. Other characteristics might `drift' a little more freely from generation to generation, shape or length of limb or body to accommodate minor alterations in the Nummic environment. Other can change with each individual, tones or colors for instance, either of the whole body or components of it, provided they are neutral - or nearly so - in terms of physical evolutionary pressure.

Signals also come into the same three categories,. Clearly a Threat Signal from a Predator must not be misperceived, indeed it must become embedded in the Dynism ROM and a ROM defense evolved, probably immediate flight. However Signals between Dynisms are less likely to lead to disaster, so new Signals can evolve without doing so much harm.

However a `new' Signal cannot be a Signal at all if it cannot be responded to by its observer either by an Action or another Signal. A peacock's elaborate tail would be worse than useless had the peahen not evolved a response to it. It is here the Mutator is so essential. By speeding up Signal Evolution, it increases the chances that two individuals will acquire the essential `send' and `receive' components of a Signal together. If this improves their chances of survival, they will have more descendants who will inherit the same advantage, and the Signal will enter the PereGaean equivalent of the Gene Pool.

Perhaps the first of these second category Signals to evolve will be a `submit' Signal. If a Dynism (A) challenges another (B) holding a Prey, B might drop the Prey and adopt a Config that makes it appear to A as if it is about to Flee, but does not in fact do so. A might not see this for a few moments as it begins to eat the Prey, but if it does, it may then again Threaten B. B may then simply repeat its Submit Signal, and A may once more ignore B. The advantage to B is that it may again eventually get to eat at least some of the Prey. A may also gain if both are approached by a third Dynism or even a Predator since both can now Threaten an interloper.

An Offer Signal may now evolve from this Submit Signal. When A approaches B, B might on one occasion accidentally nudge the Prey towards A before it performs its Submit Signal. This would normally make no difference to A , but a variant of A may make no Threat to B, even if B does not perform its Submit Signal. If A instead performs some minor accidental gesture, this may then become an Accept Signal if the situation is repeated.

Not only do both Dynisms get to eat, but their `relationship', tenuous though it is, forms a basis for other Signals to evolve. For instance, it seems reasonable to suppose that Dynisms must not only Eat and Reproduce to survive, but maintain whatever corporeal machinery they now happen to be made up of, perhaps removing environmental detritus or even external parasites from themselves. Indeed, Dynisms may of necessity have evolved a whole battery of Actions to perform such self-servicing. Dynisms that then evolve the ability to perform such services on each other will have an additional advantage since they are more likely to carry them out effectively. This might occur at times when one perceives another to be inactive, A will simply approach B and proceed with its ROM-appointed task.

Such mutual servicing may eventually lead to a means whereby smaller weaker individuals improve their access to Prey. But before this can happen, the Dynism must first acquire a mechanism that enables them to recognize each other as Individuals via the individual differences given them by their Mutator. This `Recognizer' as we'll call it in fact derives from the Identifier. Each time a Dynism Identifies another as a Dynism, its Recognizer lists all these differences from an evolution-defined `standard' into a now much-extended Object RAM. This also contains the Recognition Lists of all the other Dynisms it has previously encountered. With each new encounter, a List is compared to these earlier ones and Recognition occurs if a match is found. If not, the new List is stored and a unique Individual Number attached to it.

This Recognition ability is of little use however unless a Dynism can also `keep an account' of any Gains (e.g.: a Prey or a Service) or Losses (Theft of a Prey, Injury through Conflict) it may experience from an Individual over a period of time. With each such event, it now attaches `Credit' or `Debit' Flags to the Individual's Number. If A behaves in such a way as to cause B a Gain, B enters a Credit into its Account for A; if a Loss, then a Debit. The Account for a newly identified `B' is set to zero. A also Datestamps B's Recognition List and Account Flags so that they will delete themselves from its RAM if it meets B seldom or never again.

I will describe one of the many possible Mutual Service relationships that may now evolve using this simple self-explanatory Flowchart. As you can see from the colored rectangular outlines, it breaks down into four subsections. It is limited it to the interactions between two Dynisms rather than three or more, we can return to that later. We will also have to leave until later the question of how Gains and Losses are actually associated with Individuals.

There is another form of Signal exchange we can now look at. Let's assume that PereGaea is contained within a medium that allows the transfer of radiative mechanical energy; in other words, sound. We'll also assume that Dynisms, again perhaps at a somewhat earlier point in their evolution, evolved sensors that allow them to perceive such sounds to detect the presence of Predators or Prey when visibility is limited. Then, perhaps at some rather later stage, they evolved effectors that emitted sounds whenever they Identified these Dynamic Objects. perhaps as a means of repelling or attracting them in some way. However, these Competitors also soon evolve Aural Signals of their own. They have to. Aural Signals are not only much quicker than the Visual ones we have just seen, they can also be sent and received `on the move' and across relatively large distances. Sender and receiver need not even be visible to each other. Yet another PereGaean Arms Race gets into full swing.

Aural Signals soon become vital components within Dynism social groups. The first may be a simple Alert Signal which causes other Dynisms within aural range to look around them for either Predator or Prey. This may in turn spin off an Alarm Signal which cause other Dynisms to run or scatter before they even look. Others quickly evolve. For instance Mutual Service obviously cannot work if Dynisms wander over territories so large that particular individuals are unlikely to meet more than once or twice in their Existence. Dynisms may therefore evolve a form of `herding' where they tend not to wander more than some ROM-determined distance from each other.

However, if their Prey can move independently and at high speed, their ability to find food will be severely restricted. Such Dynisms instead therefore evolve another form of herding we will call `bonding'.

Whenever Dynism B `earns' two Credits in Dynism A's Account, A will now periodically check that B is within its sight. If it discovers at some stage that it is not, it will emit an aural Call Signal which, via the Mutator's third category of evolution, is unique to itself. Its companion, if in aural range, will then emit its own Call in response. If there is no reply, A will look for B, moving at this stage in randomly selected directions (we will come back to how it can improve on this crude `exploration' a little later on). These Bonds are Datestamped, they lapse if an Individual is never seen again or if its Account falls below two Credits.

Such Mutual Bonds quickly extend to become Group Bonds. If A had formed a mutual Bond with C before forming one with B for instance, chances are that B will also form one with C since C will seldom be far away from A. And if A subsequently forms a Bond with D who already has one with E, the original trio acquires two more members to become a Group.

The size of such Groups will however tend to be self-limiting. If a Group becomes too large, some of its members will fail to return Services performed on them by fellow members. Bonds will begin to break as Credits expire or even turn into Debits. Some of the smaller members may then go hungry once more.

Larger Groups might however remain stable if Threat Signals become aural as well as visual. An important component of such Signals will be their loudness, simply because of their increased range. Since larger Dynisms are physically more likely to be louder, it is they who will tend to dominate these Groups.

However other Signals may also evolve from the Call signals which, for want of a better name, we will call Bonding Signals. Individual Dynisms will doubtless vary in the way they can emit these signals as well as respond to them in a way now independent of physical size. A new phenomenon will soon appear, that of Individual Credibility, the ability to influence the behavior of others. A heirachy soon establishes itself that is dominated by the most Credible Dynisms instead of the biggest and strongest and the first socially complex Dynism `Clan' appears on the face of PereGaea.

Dynisms eventually come to use Signals to help solve an ancient problem we looked at near the beginning of our account of evolution on PereGaea. This is the huge investment of resources required to produce sufficient numbers of young to ensure the continuation of the species.

By this time Dynisms may already have evolved some small repertoire of Actions that enable them to protect their Young until they become Adult. They may for instance drive off predators they perceive to approach or attack Young. The first Signals they may use in this context may be attenuated Threat (`Warn') Signals when they perceive Young to be straying beyond some evolution-defined `safe' distance from themselves.

At this stage in their evolution, Dynisms may well need to spend only relatively small parts of their time actually hunting Prey or avoiding Predators. Instead of simply becoming inert and doing nothing in between such `busy' times like terrestrial spiders (or domestic cats), Dynisms may come to perform many activities which may not benefit their survival immediately but do so in the long term.

Adults may also aid their Young in acquiring experience with little cost. Rather than Present them with food in the form of deactivated Prey, they may now give them active but crippled ones, or even young Prey.

To look now at an entirely different aspect of Communications on PereGaea, up until now I've been speaking as if Signals only appear at this late stage in PereGaean evolution. However, other forms of Signaling may well have arisen right near its very Beginning. Let's imagine that a `freak' species we'll call a `multiplex' came into PereGaean existence and somehow actually evolved to a similar stage as the Dynism has now. However, instead of having one set of sensors, a memory system, plus four limbs as a conventional Dynism has, each of its more numerous limbs has its own set of sensors plus memory. None of these `subunits' are linked in any way except that they share the same `thorax', each can only sense and respond to PereGaea's environment separately.

Clearly a Multiplex with many Subunits would only be able to move very slowly and clumsily. After all, it would take the same amount of time for each Subunit to sense and respond to another as it would for a single-comparator Dynism to perceive a stimulus and Execute an Action on its own. A Multiplex might survive if its Subunits could each Signal what it was about to do so that its neighbors could react accordingly. But many Signals would have to be exchanged - and very quickly - between all the Subunits to perform even the simplest co-ordinated Action. Multiplexes therefore seem unlikely to be able to compete against `conventional' Dynisms.

One form of Multiplex that may well survive though is a `Duoplex'. As you'll recall, right back near its Beginning the Dynism's two `halves' were bilaterally symmetric along its largest axis so that each could act as a `reflexive couple' to the other. There seems no reason why this shouldn't work as well with more complex Actions like Walk Actions as it did with that simple Swim one. Apart from sharing a few basic components and mechanisms, a single Head and a Prey Assimilation System for example, plus perhaps some internal means of sending and receiving Signals, the two Halves need have no link between them. Even when their Decision mechanisms eventually evolve, both Halves can still make different Decisions. They simply Signal each other just as if they were two separate Individuals, and the most Credible one wins. Indeed, this very characteristic may eventually enable them to supersede even Conventional Dynisms to become the new Dynisms of PereGaea.

Another form of Multiplex that may survive for some time could actually develop from the Dynism in its present form. Instead of exchanging visual and aural Signals as they do now, they come to exchange Signals made up from actual physical or chemical substances which they manufacture themselves or modify from the environment, much as Earth's ants do.

But let's suppose that these `Substance Signals' do more than merely alter the behavior of these Dynisms; they alter their physical nature as well. For instance, a Group may now grow beyond a previous maximum of a few tens or hundreds to contain many thousands of individuals. Their individual characteristics may also be affected so that different portions of the `Monoplex' as we'll call this `supergroup' function a little differently from others, just as the different components in their individual bodies do. Indeed, their Signals evolve in exactly the same way as their body components - for that's what they now in effect are.

Taking this evolutionary path though has its costs, some of them severe. For instance, forming a Signal Substance, then exchanging it, will almost certainly take rather longer than exchanging a visual signal let alone am aural one. Such `signal inertia' means that the `Units', even of a small Monoplex, would have to remain in close physical contact with each other to prevent their meeting the same fate as the first Multiplex. This in turn means that, unless Monoplexes evolve so as to allow some of their Units to function as independent entities that can hunt for food, they would become all but immobile. The vast majority of Units would not be able to do much more than perform functions that require little mobility such as reproduction and tending the young. This makes Monoplexes vulnerable to damage by individual Predators from conventional species - indeed, each such Monoplex can now be considered to be an Individual. They could evolve some form of armor, but this would constrain them even further. Monoplexes therefore seem as unlikely to become the Dynisms of PereGaea as our first Multiplexes.

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