Science Jam #52: Games vs Nature: from Cancer to Endless Evolution

By Dr. Artem Kaznatcheev, Algorithms and Complexity, Utrecht University

Games vs Nature: from Cancer to Endless Evolution
The mathematics of theoretical computer science can be extended to create new theories of biological & cultural evolution in cancer, metascience & other domains. I want to provide two examples of how viewing evolution as a game between the population and the environment is useful for both experiment and theory.

For an experimental example, I will introduce you to the game assay: a way to use revealed preferences to measure the ecological interactions of evolving populations. Recently, my experimental colleagues and I applied this assay to measure the games played by sensitive vs resistant non-small cell lung cancer.

For a theoretical example, I will examine how the combinatorial structure of some static fitness landscapes can produce a computational constraint that prevents evolution from finding any local fitness optima, allowing for open-ended evolution. This state of perpetual disequilibrium can be used to drive positive results like the maintenance of costly learning and cooperation.