[tt] [croquet-dev] Distributed Neuron in Croquet? Questions.

[Eugen Leitl]

----- Forwarded message from zachary at distributedneuron.net -----

From: zachary at distributedneuron.net
Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 01:17:51 -0400
To: croquet-dev at duke.edu
Subject: [croquet-dev] Distributed Neuron in Croquet?  Questions.
User-Agent: Internet Messaging Program (IMP) H3 (4.1.4)
Reply-To: croquet-dev at duke.edu, zachary at distributedneuron.net

Hello,

An introduction on my part would be the easiest way to start.  My name  
is Zachary Tong and I'm an undergraduate biology major,  
ex-computer-science major.  In my spare time I have been developing a  
biologically realistic, distributed brain evolution project.  A fairly  
complex neural network controls a relatively simple "body", which  
interacts in a simulated environment.

Its come to my attention recently that intelligence is as much a  
product of environment and interaction with other organisms as it is  
biologically encoded.  This means I need an environment that can hold  
multiple organisms and allow them to interact in a semi-sophisticated  
manner.

I was originally going to create this simulation environment myself.   
This not only adds a lot of work to my plate but will also be much  
less flexible than desired.  I stumbled on Second Life, which caught  
my eye.  It (and other virtual worlds) could provide the environment  
simulation I need.  After looking into it, however, I feel it would be  
more trouble than its worth, trying to hack my project around their  
system.

Croquet looks like a much more appealing option.  I had some questions  
regarding feasibility however.  I realize Croquet is young but these  
are the basic, fundamental requirements I would have:

-Is it a persistent world?  Can I set up a zone that is dedicated to  
the project and will persist even when people aren't there?  Since  
Croquet is P2P, where would this reside?  Would it be hosted on my  
server (I'm assuming this is the answer)?

-Can external programs interact with Croquet?  My project is a C++  
project and I would hate to port it to Squeak.  Furthermore, I'm not  
sure it could be ported (requires a local database, and requires an  
active connection to my server to upload/download genomes).   
Performance would be an issue as well, my project is very  
computationally intensive.

-Can a single "user" command multiple "entities" in the environment?   
For instance, could a single client control multiple organisms in an  
environment?

-Is there a way to script simple, persistent "bots" (would be used for  
vegetation)?


Thanks for the help.  Croquet looks exceptional and the open framework  
is a good thing to see after looking into SL.  In case anyone is  
interested, here is my blog on my project:

http://distributedneuron.net/blog/category/dneuron/
http://distributedneuron.net/blog/

Thanks again,
-Zachary Tong

----- End forwarded message -----
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Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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