Pricing the 'free lunch' of meta-evolution

A number of recent studies introduced meta-evolutionary strategies and successfully used them for solving problems in genetic programming. While individual results indicate possibilities of successes and failures (e.g., Kantschik, Dittrich et al., 1998, 1999), the emerging global picture suggests that the approach may have universal, domain-independent advantages over traditional methods. Trying to develop a general theoretical understanding of this concept, we use Price’s theorem to define fitness at a meta-level and show with two simple case studies (two-dimensional optimization and the Eight puzzle) that the ideology based on Price’s theorem can work at a meta-level in a similar manner for very different problems. Specifically, Pricean definition of fitness for reproductive operators appears to be practically useful and essential for performance and stability of a certain class of meta-evolutionary algorithms. Categories and Subject Descriptors

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: GECCO
• Authors: Alexei V. Samsonovich, Kenneth A. De Jong
• Keywords: GECCO 2005, General Theoretical Understanding, Meta-level, Simple Case Studies