METASTRUCTURE

Below is an image of the interface to MUTATOR28. MUTATOR28 uses a 3 stage process to mutate snowflakes. Each stage, (from here on out known as 'Generations'), is a progression of a reproductive process related to mitosis.

To begin this process an initialization state is created and passed on to Generation 1. This initialization state is a set of lines (each with independent length and width parameters) which tell the turtle what to draw.

Generation 1 then copies its data to Generation 2A and Generation 2B. Generation 2A then copies its data to Generation 3A and 3B, while Generation 2B then copies its data to Generation 3C and 3D. In other words the orginal organism splits twice before reaching the end of the process. As the set of lines are copied from one Generation to the next, the potential for write errors is introduced, which creates subtle differences between the siblings of the same generation.

MUTATOR28 user interface.

Each color (red, green, and blue) represents a different strain in the process. Each strain developes independently until reaching the last Generation. During the last genration the 3 strains are forced to compete against each other. This means that at the end there are 12 individuals. These 12 individuals are scored and then the top 3 individuals are kept and the remaining individuals are thrown away. The top 3 individuals then become the new red, green, and blue organisms respectively.

Therefore, what the user is watching in Generation 1 is the combined mutations of the 3 top surviving strains of the MUTATOR28 snowflake. The following clip shows the output of MUTATOR28: