A Comprehensive Paper on Artificial Life

Early Alife promised to advance our understanding of the world by provoking a reconceptualisation of the concept of life itself. As the field develops an increasing variety of roles for Alife in science are proposed. A selection of these are reviewed and discussed. It is suggested that Alife simulations can potentially function to advance science in a number of ways, but that all are hampered by an inherent lack of transparency. It is suggested that the slope of 'downhill invention' must be partially relinquished and a practical approach to the formulation of a methodology of design is proposed.