e-den across cyberspace

These limitations can be overcome by linking computers over the internet. In this mode, each computer supports its own local Grid but allows passage of organisms across its borders to the neighbouring Grids of consenting computers. Each local Grid could be considered a small island in a large archipelago or, alternatively, as a small region of a Master Grid. The software attempts to transfer the Bugs in a geographically faithful way but this is not guaranteed. An organism leaving, say, the midpoint of the local Grid's Eastern border, would be preferentially placed near the midpoint of the neighbouring Grid's Western border but, if such a transfer would place the organism in an already occupied position, a nearby site is chosen instead.

At the borders between Grids, organisms would experience some mild physical anomalies. For instance, they would be unable to see or hear anything from the other side of the border and there would be no guarantee that biological time would proceed at a similar pace on both sides of the border. An organism might follow another organism across the border only to find that, when it arrives, the first organism has long since disappeared, that digital aeons have passed on one side of the border when only moments have passed on the other. (The sequence of border crossings is preserved, however; pursuer and pursued must enter a queue.)

The computers involved do not have to be running simultaneously, although this would be desirable. In the current software version, organisms travel as e-mail messages and hence are stored on a mail server until downloaded by the receiving computer. Once downloaded, the transferred organisms are placed in a queue and added to the receiving Grid at variable intervals: more rapidly if both computers are running simultaneously, more slowly if the receiving computer detects that the sending computer is inactive.

The users themselves must establish the geographical relationship between their local Grids by entering the e-mail addresses of their Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western neighbours. Any combination of connections is possible: two users may link themselves like two sides of a page, multiple users may form large wrap-around Grids, single users may test their software by specifying themselves as their own neighbours. It is hoped that, for most of the time, users will join up in a virtual relationship that mirrors their actual geographical relationship. This way, a virtual Master Grid could be built that truly circled the globe and large-scale geographical variation could arise in the digital ecosystem.

It should be clear that, with large numbers of users, the evolutionary potential of the system would increase exponentially. The number of mutations being assessed for viability at anyone time would be far greater and, if a successful mutant arose, it could quickly spread to all local Grids; successes would automatically shared and time would not be wasted pursuing evolutionary dead ends. Furthermore, a successful carnivore could decimate the herbivore population of the local Grid and then move across the border to find new prey, leaving the old Grid to be repopulated by the few local survivors or by immigration from the internet. Thus, a multilevel food chain and all the potential benefits of an evolutionary arms race might apply.

If such a scenario seems at first glance to raise security concerns then the following points should be noted:

The organisms contain no executable code, and are transmitted as ascii text files.

The organisms have no access to or knowledge of computer memory or internet architecture. All of their sensory capabilities rely on a consenting program adjusting the excitation of specific dedicated neurons. None of their motor activities create, move or alter memory directly.

The executable code responsible for the biological simulation, the user interface and the sending of e-mails to other users is itself completely static and is not susceptible to mutation or evolution.

The transfer of organisms relies on the receiving computer actively seeking and downloading e-mails into the right directories. If received into the users usual e-mail client, the files cannot be found or utilised by e-den.

The use of e-mail rather than other methods of internet linkage has many benefits including improved security, support for asynchronous use and avoidance of the need for a centralised server. Dial-up users without their own internet address can become part of the Master Grid right along-side those operating from dedicated addresses.

The major drawback of this approach is that most e-mail clients automatically instruct their pop3 server to delete downloaded messages. If the user does not empty their pop3 mail-box of Bug-related traffic before receiving mail into their usual e-mail client, the Bug transfers will have a SPAM-like nuisance value and the organisms will be lost from the Master Grid. To minimise the occurrence of this, an iconic utility will be shipped with e-den that does nothing but empty the mail-box of Bug transfers and append the organisms to the incoming border files. The user would need to click the icon before initiating a Send-Receive from their e-mail client.

Although it would be interesting to see what type of organisms evolved spontaneously in such a Master Grid, entertaining results might arise more quickly if users made some attempts at selective breeding and genetic engineering. e-den allows users to add species identifiers, or names, to the genomes of their creations. Users are encouraged to include their own nicknames as part of the species identifier. Although these names, like the rest of the genome, would be susceptible to mutation, it is likely that the origin of a species would still be recognisable after several generations. Thus, users could compete in their attempts to take over the Master Grid, producing the most successful herbivore or carnivore, for instance.

A connection with the internet must be established outside the e-den application by the user's usual methods (such as starting Internet Explorer or another web browser). The user must enter their personal e-mail details in the Internet Connection dialogue, along with the e-mail addresses of their virtual neighbours4. Once these details have been entered once, only the login password needs to be provided during later sessions. Internet exchanges can be automated or manual. If automated, exiting organisms are stored in border files and then sent to the neighbouring e-mail addresses at appropriate intervals. This is the best option for those with continuous internet access. For users paying for their internet access according to their connection time, manual exchanges are preferable. In this case, the 'Auto Exchange' feature should be turned off and the 'Exchange' button pressed at the start and end of the e-den session, or whenever the user wants to check for incoming traffic.

Exiting and arriving organisms are placed in queues so that e-den can run with the 'Internet Borders' mode selected even without being connected to the internet. The software attempts to empty these queues gradually if the neighbouring Grids are idle and more rapidly if the neighbouring Grids are active but the activity of a user's neighbours is inherently unpredictable. This means that immigration may occur in waves with little in-coming border activity between waves. Emigration, by contrast, is only dependent upon when the organisms move across the border by their own volition. These are features of the e-den reality that the evolving organisms will have to learn to cope with. If the user does not want to exchange organisms across the internet the 'Internet Borders' option should be turned off. The borders can then be sealed off with a wall of nine atoms or left open, in which case exiting organisms will be re-installed on the opposite side of their own local Grid.

There is nothing preventing users from specfying themselves as their own neighbours and, indeed, this is recommended during the setting up phase as a test of the internet connection. When this is done, exiting organisms from, say the eastern border are queued, sent through the mail server and then downloaded later to queue at the western border for re-entry into the same local Grid. Some time, usually minutes, must be allowed for delivery of the e-mails before deciding that the connection is faulty.

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