Who Wants to Live a Million Years

Jonathan Dombro
1/16/15
Period 5

1) It took me six generations for me to win the game. It took so long, because at the beginning of the game, I had no idea what the challenges would be or the best way to face them. This suggests that evolution is a difficult and fragile process. So many species go extinct, because it is hard to know what nature will throw at you, how to overcome the challenges.

2) Initially I thought larger species with stripes would win, but it quickly became apparent that variation was necessary. The best solution was to pick some that were tall and some that were short, some that were hairy and some that weren't, with as many as possible having stripes.

3) The species in the game were greatly affected by genetic drift. Sometimes even a seemingly perfect combination would randomly fail. Whenever your creatures would die despite fitting the specifications, it became apparent that genetic drift was at play.

4) Dark brown, long necks and legs, and hair were all dominant traits. You could tell because they were much more likely to take over a majority of the population as opposed to other traits.

5) Cold conditions require hairy, short, and fat creatures, hot conditions require hairless, tall, and skinny creatures, the predator requires striped creatures with long legs, and tall food requires creatures with long necks and legs.

6) The simulation would be more accurate if it depicted more variation in obstacles. The cold was always the same cold, and the predator always acted the same way. It would also be more realistic if the life preserver wasn't instant. Evolution doesn't happen right away in nature. Finally it would be more realistic if the game lasted longer. There usually aren't such long periods of time with nothing happening.