Code and data associated with "The evolution of sex for artificial intelligence - A population-genetic framework for multigenerational model populations". Gilestro, 2026
Giorgio Gilestro
62c68d6c8c
Enter the Lamarckian society with a robust theoretical frame. The single-
locus, fixed-p* model can only express recovery toward a ceiling; the
society's load-bearing claim is vertical -- capability that EXCEEDS any
component. Generalize knowledge to a distribution over genotypes (L
biallelic loci, K=2^L, additive fitness = # correct loci), reusing all the
K-mode machinery. The one new operator is recombination: free recombination
sends p -> product of per-locus marginals (linkage equilibrium).
E8 (star, kind: society) -- the vertical claim / Fisher-Muller: decorrelated
PARENTS (specialists, expert on their loci, agnostic elsewhere) are
recombined; sexual merge assembles a genotype fitter than any parent,
climbing to the optimum (12/12, a genotype no parent had) as parent count
grows and rho->0, while the best single parent (~8.7) and the mean-mixture
"model soup" (~11.6) plateau below. Reuses make_retention_matrix (locus
mastery replaces tail-item retention).
E7 (kind: genotype_lineage) -- the advantage of sex: a single population
adapts toward the optimum; the sexual lineage adapts faster than asexual
(clonal interference) by keeping loci in linkage equilibrium (LD->0 vs LD
spike). Honest scope: a speed advantage, not a permanent Muller's-ratchet
gap (subtle to force); E8 carries the headline.
Metaphor shift (per GG): the society is sexual reproduction with UNBOUNDED
parents, not teacher->pupil. Teacher->pupil caps at the ceiling; n-parent
recombination is combinatorial and generative, and unlike biology there is
no two-parent limit. Collapse = asexual degradation; the cure = sex. This
unifies E4 (merge != average) + E6 (irreversibility) under evolution-of-sex
theory and reaches ground Riis's single-locus n-grams cannot.
New: knowledge/{genotype,genotype_lineage,society}.py, configs/layer1/{E7,
E8}.yaml, figures/plot_{E7,E8}.py, READMEs, tests/test_genotype.py (+7).
experiment.py dispatch (kind in {genotype_lineage, society}); make layer1
wired. 112 tests green.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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The Lamarckian Society — Layer 1 (analytical core)
A parametric population-genetics model of knowledge transmission across generations of
learning agents. Knowledge transmission is modelled literally as a Wright–Fisher
process (not by analogy): a model's knowledge is a distribution p_t over K discrete
items; a fixed true distribution p* has a rare tail; each generational step is
"sample from the parent (drift) + mix in fresh real samples (grounding/immigration) +
refit." Model collapse is the loss of rare alleles under drift.
See paper/blueprint.md (the normative build spec) and
paper/the-lamarckian-society-v4.md (the perspective paper).
Reproduce
Environment is a uv venv built from the committed, hash-pinned uv.lock — that
lockfile is the single source of truth for "it runs" (Layer 1 is pure NumPy/SciPy and
bitwise-reproducible from a seed; no container needed).
# one-time: install uv (https://astral.sh/uv)
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
uv sync # build .venv from uv.lock
make test # correctness + scientific-validation tests (the spine of trust)
make layer1 # run experiments E1–E6
make figures # regenerate figures from committed results
Layout
src/knowledge/ Layer 1 package (imported as `knowledge`)
configs/layer1/ one YAML per experiment (E1..E6)
figures/ plot_EX.py — read results.parquet only
tests/ test_correctness.py + test_scientific_validation.py (analytic checks)
paper/ blueprint.md, perspective paper, figure_manifest.md
results/ written artifacts (gitignored; hashes tracked in manifest.json)