# Requirements for Open-Ended Evolution in Natural and Artificial Systems

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1507.07403 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1507.07403/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 27 Jul 2015.

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Open-Endedness is Essential for Artificial Superhuman Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.04268/) (2024)
- [Exploring Flow-Lenia Universes with a Curiosity-driven AI Scientist: Discovering Diverse Ecosystem Dynamics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.15998/) (2025)
- [Flow-Lenia: Emergent evolutionary dynamics in mass conservative continuous cellular automata](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.08569/) (2025)
- [Two Ways of Understanding Social Dynamics: Analyzing the Predictability of Emergence of Objects in Reddit r/place Dependent on Locality in Space and Time](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.03563/) (2022)
- [The use of knowledge in open-ended systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.00011/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Open-ended evolutionary dynamics remains an elusive goal for artificial evolutionary systems. Many ideas exist in the biological literature beyond the basic Darwinian requirements of variation, differential reproduction and inheritance. I argue that these ideas can be seen as aspects of five fundamental requirements for open-ended evolution: (1) robustly reproductive individuals, (2) a medium allowing the possible existence of a practically unlimited diversity of individuals and interactions, (3) individuals capable of producing more complex offspring, (4) mutational pathways to other viable individuals, and (5) drive for continued evolution. I briefly discuss implications of this view for the design of artificial systems with greater evolutionary potential.