When it comes to the construction of autonomous machines that exhibit such a prized human ability our engineering skills arguably fall short. The potential of the computer as a dynamical system generating patterns that we might easily associate with art may only be realised if we know how to engineer collections of instructions that allow it to exhibit creative ability. The characteristics required of it might be summarised as follows. The system must exhibit — Coherence and unity, maintain its identity over time, despite perturbation; — Multi-scaled temporal complexity, demonstrate complex dynamics over fine and coarse timescales; — Autonomous production of novelty, explore large design spaces independently of human input; — Responsiveness to perturbation, permit external events to deeply influence its behaviour. An artist might also prefer that the system exhibit — Susceptibility to external control, permit external (artist-laid) constraints on its behaviour. [all are further developed in the following pages]
— Dorin, Alan. “A Survey of Virtual Ecosystems in Generative Electronic Art.” The Art of Artificial Evolution. A Handbook on Evolutionary Art and Music. Eds. Romero, Juan and Penousal Machado. Berlin: Springer, 2008. 289-309
