Natural selection

Of all the artworks I have made, this highly conceptual work is my favorite.

This NFT simulates natural selection in a limited population.

Each individual in the population has their own DNA: a string of 41 letters. In the first generation of the simulation, each individual has completely random DNA.

For each new generation, the two 'fittest' individuals from the previous generation are allowed to reproduce, with their offspring carrying a combination of the DNA of both parents and some random mutations.

The fitness of an individual is given by the number of letters of their DNA that match the sentence: "Natural selection is anything but random" (a quote from Richard Dawkins).

In total, 40 generations are simulated. The DNA of the fittest individual from each odd-numbered generation is printed.

The probability of a random piece of DNA equals the quote is one in 95^41 ≈ 10^80, roughly the number of atoms in the universe.

Source code: https://turtletoy.net/turtle/2f92cd6aa3