Announcing the Availability of: The Tierra Simulator V3.12 Beagle Explorer and Tools Source Code & Executables The Tierra Simulator has been widely reported in the media: New York Times (Malcolm Browne, USA) August 27, 1991: ``Lively Computer Creation Blurs Definition of Life. Software forms, obeying Darwin's rules, vie to avoid the `reaper'.'' Nature (John Maynard Smith, UK) February 27, 1992: ``Byte-sized evolution. ...we badly need a comparative biology. So far, we have been able to study only one evolving system and we cannot wait for interstellar flight to provide us with a second. If we want to discover generalizations about evolving systems, we will have to look at artificial ones. Ray's study is a good start.'' Science News (John Travis, USA) August 10, 1991: ``Digital Darwinism: Electronic Ecosystem. Evolving `life' flourishes and surprises in a novel electronic world''. Scientific American (John Rennie, USA) January 1992: ``Cybernetic Parasites... Tierra... has been hailed as the most sophisticated artificial-life program yet developed...'' New Scientist (Roger Lewin, UK) February 22, 1992: ``Life and death in a digital world. No one can turn back the evolutionary clock, but we can follow the fate of a rich menagerie of artificial organisms as they evolve in a model world.'' The Economist (Anon, UK) January 4, 1992: ``The meaning of `life'. In order to understand the origin of life, scientists are switching from the chemistry set to the computer. In the process, they are beginning to understand what it means to be alive.'' Actuel (Ariel Kyrou, France) April 1992: ``Visite Guidee Aux Extremes De La Science: La Vie Artificielle. Etes-vous pr\^{e}ts \`{a} entrer dans l'univers vertigineux de la vie artificielle? Un champ scientifique tout neuf sur lequel se penchent les grosses t\^{e}tes et les Nobel de labos am\'{e}ricains.'' The Chronicle of Higher Education (David Wilson, USA) December 4, 1991: ``Approaching Artificial Life on a Computer. Survival-of-the-fittest electronic organisms dramatically illustrate Darwinian principles.'' Mikrobitti (Pekka Tolonen, Finland) November 1991: ``Olemmeko humanoiden biologinen koe? Tierra simuloi el\"{a}m\"{a}\"{a}.'' Europeo (Giovanni Caprara, Italy) September 1991: ``Anche il computer ha fatto un figlio. Un biologo americano ha creato un software capace di elaborare programmi che si evolvono da soli.'' GenteMoney (Riccardo Orizio, Italy) November 1991: ``Cos\`{\i} ho dato la vita al software.'' Computerworld (Michael Alexander, USA) September 30, 1991: ``Tierra adds to evolutionary studies. A computerized world created on an IBM PC could have real-world benefits for scientists.'' Sueddeutsche Zeitung (Konrad Peters, Germany) October 21, 1991: ``Die Evolution im Computer. `K\"{u}nstliches Leben' hilft Biologen und Informatikern auf die Spr\"{u}nge.'' Super Interessante (Anon, Brazil) November 1991: ``A vida dentro do computador.'' Technology Review (Susan Scheck, USA) April 14, 1991: ``Is It Live Or Is It Memory?'' Corriere Della Sera (Giovanni Capara, Italy) August 28, 1991: ``Pronto in USA il programma che si riproduce. Il computer `padre' crea vita informatica.'' Fakta (Tom Ottmar, Norway) March 1992: ``Den Lever! En `skabning', der best\aa r af nuller og \'{e}nere, er vokset ud af indamaden p\aa \ en computer og er blevet en videnskabelig sensation i USA.'' Associated Press (Theresa Humphrey, USA) October 1991: ``Bringing life to computer. U of D biologist's program is self-replicating, shows evolution.'' Hovedomr\aa det (Jakob Skipper, Denmark) December 6, 1990: ``Kunstigt liv. Nu kommer det kunstige liv. En voksende gruppe af dataloger, biologer, fysikere, psykologer og mange andre forskere efterlinger p\aa \ computer det naturlige liv.'' You may now obtain Tierra for yourself Tierra is available by anonymous ftp from tierra.slhs.udel.edu [128.175.41.34] and life.slhs.udel.edu [128.175.41.33] in the directories: DOS/, almond/, beagle/, doc/, and tierra/. If you do not have ftp access you may obtain everything on DOS disks by making a check for $65 (US dollars drawn on a US bank) payable to Virtual Life. $20 for an upgrade from earlier versions. Specify 3.5" or 5.25" disks. Send the check to one of the following addresses: Tom Ray (January through August) Santa Fe Institute 1660 Old Pecos Trail Suite A Santa Fe, NM 87501 Virtual Life (September through December) P.O. Box 625 Newark, Delaware 19715 The DOS disks include DOS executables, source code and extensive documentation. The DOS disks include an easy installation program. The source code can be compiled on DOS or Unix systems. The Tierra Simulator has a new user interface which allows you to graphically view the distributions of size and genotype classes during a run. The disk set includes several new (and some old) tools: rnd_inst - A tool for altering the physics of the system by randomly mapping opcodes to instructions, with some optional restrictions on hamming distances between pairs of instructions. The output is an opcode.map file. probe - A tool for surveying the genebank, with various optional selection criteria (a new tool, but proving very useful). tieout - A tool for generating x,y data from the tierra.log file. This is used on a regular basis to generate graphics of size of creatures over time during a run. diverse - A tool that reads the birth and death records (break.X files) output by Tierra and transforms them into various measures of diversity, for graphical or other analysis. beagle - A DOS only tool which provides a variety of graphical displays of the output from the Tierra simulator. It is used after a run, and is highly recommended as a tool for analyzing the results of a run. run_info - A function of the beagle program, also available as a stand-alone, due to its hunger for memory. fragment - A function of the beagle program, also available as a stand-alone, due to its hunger for memory. Many new genomes are now available. These are the genomes of most of the creatures described in the publications and videos: parasites, hyper-parasites, social creatures, cheaters, etc.