The surprising effects of "random mutation"

I’ve always had many projects and endeavours on the go and I think I’ve finally found the perfect excuse to continue on: they serve as a “random mutation”.

When you do the same things all the time, you end up with the same result. Picking up weird and fringe projects is a great way to add a little “random mutation” in your life, which can lead to exponential results down the road.

In sum, a random mutation is exposure to something new:

• Cooking a new meal.
• Learning a new song on the piano.
• Creating a little programming script.

It could be even simpler:

• Taking a few minutes to explore an out-of-nowhere thought.
• Thinking about the “dream” fix for a problem.
• Reading a book.

To illustrate, here’s a very simple implementation of a neural net at play:

• Each “creature” (*) starts at a random point.
• Each “creature” starts with 4 sensors (detect north, south, east, west).
• Each “creature” starts with 4 actions (move up, down, right, left).
• Each “creature” starts with 2 neutral neurons that form the “hidden layer”.
• Each “creature” has a few random “synapses” or “connections” created from the sensors to the neutrals, then from the neutrals to the actions.
• Each “synapse” is given a random “weight” or “strength.”
• Each “creature” is rewarded by being able to “re-spawn and replicate” when it hits the northern border.
• “Replication” means that it gets the same “synapses” as the parent, with a tiny “weight” mutation in a random direction.

Because everything is random, sometimes nothing eventful happens. Refresh this page for a new random set of “creatures.”

When we play the scenario, we hope at least one of the “creatures” starts moving north. As long as it reaches north, you’ll see it replicate over and over. Each replicate is a copy of its parent, with a tiny random mutation. As a result, some of them actually mutate to be slower (or move away from the “replica zone”), but these will quickly get out-paced by the ones that mutated in the direction of the reward.

Very strangely, this will be the case for any given goal whose reward is replication. Assuming one of “creatures” can make it to the goal once, you are certain to see a herd of successful “creatures” within just a few generations.

For example, imagine the case where the north/south borders meant “death” and the east/west meant “replication”. Only the “creatures” that move in the east/west directions would thrive, and any mutations that include north/south would not make it (even if they were part of the “successful” line).

Interesting. I guess I’ll continue on with my “random”, “last-minute” projects. The source code is fairly approachable and embedded on this page; have a look in the developer console for more! 👻