Metabolism

Does complexity rise once computing pays? Each run starts from an emerged world under an economy where only the cell that initiates pays, and a cell earns energy by computing arithmetic on inputs the environment gives it. One arm is paid for its tasks and its twin is not, so the comparison isolates the reward. A second, labelled substrate: it imports an objective.

Substrate: soup imports an objective
Status: finished
Epochs per run: 40,000
Runs finished: 108 / 108
Transition rate: no finished run yet

Findings resting on this sweep: Paid to compute, replicators take the one-step tasks and stop there negative imports an objective

Transition epoch vs treatment

No finished runs yet.

Time to emergence vs treatment

No run has been observed yet.

Distinct lineages vs epoch, per arm of treatment

arith×8×2048×initiator×0×1024×65536
arith×8×0×initiator×1024×65536

Share of the largest lineage vs epoch, per arm of treatment

arith×8×2048×initiator×0×1024×65536
arith×8×0×initiator×1024×65536

Compressed length of the dominant tape (bytes) vs epoch, per arm of treatment

arith×8×2048×initiator×0×1024×65536
arith×8×0×initiator×1024×65536

Instructions in the dominant tape vs epoch, per arm of treatment

arith×8×2048×initiator×0×1024×65536
arith×8×0×initiator×1024×65536

Compressed length of the largest lineage's tape (bytes) vs epoch, per arm of treatment

arith×8×2048×initiator×0×1024×65536
arith×8×0×initiator×1024×65536

Instructions in the largest lineage's tape vs epoch, per arm of treatment

arith×8×2048×initiator×0×1024×65536
arith×8×0×initiator×1024×65536

The pre-registered reading final imports an objective

Every child of every qualifying parent has finished. Each reward child is paired with the no-reward child of the same parent and seed, and both are read over their own samples past a settling window of 1,000 epochs. A child is extinct where its last-decile median share is below 10%, and a pair with an extinct child is in no test. Each test is a one-sided sign test at p < 0.05, re-read without the parents the design study piloted (runs 1007, 2577, 1029, and 2862). Whatever it reads, this substrate pays for computing, so rung 4 on Soup stays not shown.

Children per arm, read so far. A loop rung is ADD, SUB, NOT, DOUBLE or MUL held by a tenth of the world; a stepping stone is INC or DEC held first.

Arm	Children	Finished	Settled relapses	Extinct	Capability measured	Reached a loop rung	Through a stepping stone	Complexity survivors	Rises
reward	54	54	0	0	54	0	0	54	18
no reward	54	54	0	0	54	0	0	54	1

Hypotheses

H-capability, reward against no reward: shown

54 pairs measured on both sides: 54 favour the reward, 0 the twin, 0 tie; p = 5.55e-17. Without the piloted parents: shown, 42 to 0, p = 2.27e-13.

Per-parent agreement

Parent	Favour the reward	Favour the twin	Tie	Not both measured
run 944	3	0	0	0
run 950	3	0	0	0
run 967	3	0	0	0
run 991	3	0	0	0
run 1007	3	0	0	0
run 1029	3	0	0	0
run 1087	3	0	0	0
run 1089	3	0	0	0
run 1103	3	0	0	0
run 2568	3	0	0	0
run 2577	3	0	0	0
run 2590	3	0	0	0
run 2654	3	0	0	0
run 2676	3	0	0	0
run 2700	3	0	0	0
run 2771	3	0	0	0
run 2802	3	0	0	0
run 2862	3	0	0	0

H-ladder, reward against no reward: refuted

54 pairs measured on both sides: 0 favour the reward, 0 the twin, 54 tie. Without the piloted parents: refuted, 0 to 0.

Per-parent agreement

Parent	Favour the reward	Favour the twin	Tie	Not both measured
run 944	0	0	3	0
run 950	0	0	3	0
run 967	0	0	3	0
run 991	0	0	3	0
run 1007	0	0	3	0
run 1029	0	0	3	0
run 1087	0	0	3	0
run 1089	0	0	3	0
run 1103	0	0	3	0
run 2568	0	0	3	0
run 2577	0	0	3	0
run 2590	0	0	3	0
run 2654	0	0	3	0
run 2676	0	0	3	0
run 2700	0	0	3	0
run 2771	0	0	3	0
run 2802	0	0	3	0
run 2862	0	0	3	0

H-complexity, reward against no reward: shown

54 pairs measured on both sides: 18 favour the reward, 1 the twin, 35 tie; p = 3.81e-05. Without the piloted parents: shown, 11 to 1, p = 0.00317.

Per-parent agreement

Parent	Favour the reward	Favour the twin	Tie
run 944	2	1	0
run 950	2	0	1
run 967	0	0	3
run 991	1	0	2
run 1007	2	0	1
run 1029	2	0	1
run 1087	0	0	3
run 1089	2	0	1
run 1103	1	0	2
run 2568	0	0	3
run 2577	3	0	0
run 2590	1	0	2
run 2654	0	0	3
run 2676	0	0	3
run 2700	0	0	3
run 2771	2	0	1
run 2802	0	0	3
run 2862	0	0	3

The pairs

Parent	Seed	Reward child	Capability	Twin	Capability
run 944	2001	run 4573	3	run 4576	0
run 944	2002	run 4574	3	run 4577	0
run 944	2003	run 4575	3	run 4578	0
run 950	2001	run 4579	3	run 4582	0
run 950	2002	run 4580	3	run 4583	0
run 950	2003	run 4581	2	run 4584	0
run 967	2001	run 4585	2	run 4588	0
run 967	2002	run 4586	2	run 4589	0
run 967	2003	run 4587	3	run 4590	0
run 991	2001	run 4591	3	run 4594	0
run 991	2002	run 4592	3	run 4595	0
run 991	2003	run 4593	3	run 4596	0
run 1007	2001	run 4597	3	run 4600	0
run 1007	2002	run 4598	2	run 4601	0
run 1007	2003	run 4599	3	run 4602	0
run 1029	2001	run 4603	3	run 4606	0
run 1029	2002	run 4604	3	run 4607	0
run 1029	2003	run 4605	3	run 4608	0
run 1087	2001	run 4609	3	run 4612	0
run 1087	2002	run 4610	2	run 4613	0
run 1087	2003	run 4611	3	run 4614	0
run 1089	2001	run 4615	3	run 4618	0
run 1089	2002	run 4616	3	run 4619	0
run 1089	2003	run 4617	3	run 4620	0
run 1103	2001	run 4621	3	run 4624	0
run 1103	2002	run 4622	2	run 4625	0
run 1103	2003	run 4623	3	run 4626	0
run 2568	2001	run 4627	2	run 4630	0
run 2568	2002	run 4628	3	run 4631	0
run 2568	2003	run 4629	2	run 4632	0
run 2577	2001	run 4633	3	run 4636	0
run 2577	2002	run 4634	2	run 4637	0
run 2577	2003	run 4635	3	run 4638	0
run 2590	2001	run 4639	2	run 4642	0
run 2590	2002	run 4640	2	run 4643	0
run 2590	2003	run 4641	3	run 4644	0
run 2654	2001	run 4645	2	run 4648	0
run 2654	2002	run 4646	3	run 4649	0
run 2654	2003	run 4647	3	run 4650	0
run 2676	2001	run 4651	3	run 4654	0
run 2676	2002	run 4652	3	run 4655	0
run 2676	2003	run 4653	3	run 4656	0
run 2700	2001	run 4657	2	run 4660	0
run 2700	2002	run 4658	3	run 4661	0
run 2700	2003	run 4659	2	run 4662	0
run 2771	2001	run 4663	3	run 4666	0
run 2771	2002	run 4664	3	run 4667	0
run 2771	2003	run 4665	3	run 4668	0
run 2802	2001	run 4669	3	run 4672	0
run 2802	2002	run 4670	3	run 4673	0
run 2802	2003	run 4671	3	run 4674	0
run 2862	2001	run 4675	3	run 4678	0
run 2862	2002	run 4676	3	run 4679	1
run 2862	2003	run 4677	3	run 4680	0

The ladder, descriptive only: how many children's worlds held each task at a share of 10%, settling window included, and the median first epoch they did.

Task	Reward: children	Reward: median first epoch	No reward: children	No reward: median first epoch
echo	54	20,750	27	24,910
inc	52	22,060	1	44,120
dec	50	22,550	0	—
add	0	—	0	—
sub	0	—	0	—
not	0	—	0	—
double	0	—	0	—
mul	0	—	0	—

Runs

Download CSV

Seed	Treatment	Status	Priority	Epochs done	Transition epoch	Census
2001	arith×8×2048×initiator×0×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	—	Run
2002	arith×8×2048×initiator×0×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	31 census only	Run
2003	arith×8×2048×initiator×0×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	—	Run
2001	arith×8×0×initiator×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	15 census only	Run
2002	arith×8×0×initiator×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	23 census only	Run
2003	arith×8×0×initiator×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	14 census only	Run
2001	arith×8×2048×initiator×0×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	—	Run
2002	arith×8×2048×initiator×0×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	12 census only	Run
2003	arith×8×2048×initiator×0×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	101 census only	Run
2001	arith×8×0×initiator×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	—	Run
2002	arith×8×0×initiator×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	17 census only	Run
2003	arith×8×0×initiator×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	—	Run
2001	arith×8×2048×initiator×0×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	80 census only	Run
2002	arith×8×2048×initiator×0×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	50 census only	Run
2003	arith×8×2048×initiator×0×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	31 census only	Run
2001	arith×8×0×initiator×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	66 census only	Run
2002	arith×8×0×initiator×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	60 census only	Run
2003	arith×8×0×initiator×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	94 census only	Run
2001	arith×8×2048×initiator×0×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	—	Run
2002	arith×8×2048×initiator×0×1024×65536	finished	40	60,000	— confirmed	37 census only	Run