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used due to the fact that the agent's behaviour is influenced by the dependence on
other agents. It allows for the introduction of new evolution operators.
New properties of the evolution systems, gained due to the agent approach may
include the following:
The agents acting independently have an influence on the dynamics of the evolution
process which is characteristic of a given group (subgroup) of agents. In effect, the
evolution process proceeding in different ways (and especially at varied speed) in
certain areas of the environment may be the source of feature diversity of subjects
participating in the evolution process.
Due to the observation operation a given agent may pick up information about the
state of its surrounding environment and use it for its actions, and especially for the
realization of such operations which have an influence on the evolution process.
A given agent may observe other agents, which results in the fact that the relation-
ships between them such as rivalry or competition may have the direct or indirect
influence on the behaviour of the agents. It offers new possibilities of exerting an
influence by the agents on the proceeding of the evolution process (in some sense,
the possibility of controlling that process).
The evolution process takes place in the multi-agent environment which may
include the agents playing different roles in the system not necessarily governed
by the evolution processes. It creates the dynamically changing environment for
the agents' actions.
Equipping the agent with the capability to reproduce opens up the possibilities of
population development with the use of many factors, and thereby expands the
flexibility of adjusting the population to the conditions (often local conditions) of
the environment.
The problem of the liquidation of population subjects may proceed in the way
we know from genetic algorithms and be realized as an influence of external rea-
sons for the agent-killing the agent (e.g., by another agent). The elimination of
the subject caused by internal reasons for the agent may also be considered. In
this case, the concept of the agent's “life energy” may be applied. The dissipa-
tion of life energy results in the removal of the agent from the system. It allows
for the use of the concept of the resources existing in the environment, which
may include life energy whose absorption allows the agent to “stay alive” in the
population.
Due to the properties of the agent system we presented, it was possible to avoid
certain problems or limitations encountered in evolution algorithms. These problems
are mainly about the disappearance of population diversity that occurs during the
evolution processes.
At the same time, due to the fact that the agent systems are decentralized, they
have become very useful for the realization of new concepts of the development of the
evolution algorithms applied to problems for which the property of decentralization
is connected with the nature of the problem.
