=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-3007/xpreface
|storemode=property
|title=Lifelike Computing Systems, Proceedings Preface (2020+2021)
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3007/xpreface.pdf
|volume=Vol-3007
|authors=Anthony Stein,Sven Tomforde,Jean Botev,Peter R. Lewis
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/lifelike/X21
}}
==Lifelike Computing Systems, Proceedings Preface (2020+2021)==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3007/xpreface.pdf
Lifelike Computing Systems Workshops (LIFELIKE 2020 & 2021)
Jean Botev1 , Peter R. Lewis2 , Anthony Stein3 and Sven Tomforde4
1
University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg
2
Ontario Tech University, Canada
3
University of Hohenheim, Germany
4
University of Kiel, Germany
LIFELIKE 2020
The first LIFELIKE workshop was held in 2020 in conjunc-
tion with the 18th International Conference on Artificial Life
Technological systems have been a part of the human way of
(ALIFE 2020). Following a thorough peer review process
life since prehistory. While initially taking the form of pas-
with at least three independent expert reviews, three submis-
sive tools, such as axes and spoons, the industrial revolution
sions were accepted for publication. Also the invited paper
saw the advent of powered, mechanised technology, operat-
Motivating Interactive Self-Organisation by Sebastian von
ing “under their own steam” without direct human control
Mammen (University of Würzburg, Germany) underwent a
over every action. By integrating more complex information
full peer-review process. The contributions cover diverse
processing machinery, automation evolved into autonomy,
topics ranging from humanoid robots and embodied AI, over
as decision-making and self-regulation became features of
artificial immune systems for software testing, to general
modern technology. Now, so-called “intelligent systems”,
system design methodologies. The opening keynote talk on
embodying techniques from the field of Artificial Intelli-
Designing Robot Swarms and Bio-hybrid Systems for Ro-
gence (AI), are designed with the explicit intention of repli-
bustness and Adaptivity by Heiko Hamann (University of
cating behaviours and the sorts of things that minds do inside
Lübeck, Germany) completed the workshop programme.
technological systems.
At the same time, the study of artificial life has explored
the properties of living systems, both as they are found in LIFELIKE 2021
nature, as they might be, and as they can be built by hu- The second LIFELIKE workshop was held in 2021, again in
mans. This has exposed a large variety of mechanisms that conjunction with the 19th International Conference on Arti-
produce qualities typically associated with life. Examples ficial Life (ALIFE 2021). Following the same thorough re-
include self-organisation, homeostasis, self-replication, evo- view process with at least three independent expert reviews,
lution, learning, self-awareness, and many others besides. five submissions were accepted for publication, including
The aim of the Lifelike Computing Systems workshop is to our foundational paper on Lifelike Computing Systems. The
learn from the study of life and living systems in order to de- contributions cover topics from meta-heuristics and learning
velop new, useful, ‘lifelike’ systems; a further aim is to iden- classifier systems, over general deployment considerations
tify when such features are of value. The workshop’s focus to self-explanation of macro-level behaviors. The keynote
is primarily on engineered, technological systems broadly was held by Felipe Campelo (Aston University, UK), who
within the domain of computing. in his thought-provoking, peer-reviewed contribution titled
This new agenda builds on a long and highly successful ”Sharks, Zombies and Volleyball - (Super)Natural Compu-
tradition in biologically-inspired computing, yet not only tation Gone Wild” discussed the uncontrolled growth of nat-
seeking inspiration in the living world, but also seeking to ural metaphors in meta-heuristic search algorithms.
replicate its qualities explicitly. The agenda also goes be-
yond pure ALife research, since it has a focus explicitly The LIFELIKE organisers would like to thank all authors
on building useful, valuable, technological systems for hu- for submitting their recent work, the programme committee
mans, based on ALife principles. The Lifelike Computing members for their detailed reviews, the presenters for their
Systems Workshop evolved from the workshop series on inspiring talks, and the numerous attendees for the great
Autonomously Learning and Optimising Systems (SAOS), discussions during and after the workshops. We are looking
which grew from the Organic Computing initiative and ran forward to welcome you all again next year!
for seven consecutive years at the International Conference
on Architecture of Computing Systems (ARCS). J. Botev, P. Lewis, A. Stein, S. Tomforde
Copyright ©2021 for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).