Design without a designer
Green dots are food. Creatures must eat to gain energy. Food respawns randomly.
Colored circles are creatures with two traits: speed and efficiency. Size = speed (smaller = faster, larger = slower). Color = efficiency (blue = efficient/cool, red = inefficient/running hot).
Creatures die when energy hits zero OR when they reach max lifespan. Faster creatures burn more energy. Eating food restores energy.
When a creature has enough energy (>150), it reproduces. Offspring inherit parent's traits with small random changes — that's mutation.
Each offspring's speed and efficiency can randomly shift slightly from parent's values. Higher mutation rate = more variation = faster evolution (but also more failed experiments).
No one chooses who survives. Creatures that find food and reproduce pass on their traits. Over time, the population shifts toward traits that work in this environment.
Watch how average traits shift as selection favors what works
The creatures that survive aren't "designed" to be fast or efficient. They simply are fast or efficient — because their ancestors happened to have those traits, survived longer, and reproduced more.
This is the core insight of evolution: apparent design emerges from variation + selection + time. No designer required.
The same principle applies beyond biology — to ideas, cultures, technologies, markets. Things that "fit" their environment persist. Things that don't, fade away.
What are we selecting for when we train AI systems? What might emerge that we didn't intend?