Computation is a nascent science, and as such, looks towards the other sciences for inspiration. Whether it be physics, as in simulated annealing, or, as now is popular, biology, as in neural networks, computer science has shown repeatedly that it can learn great things from other sciences. Genetic algorithms are one such method that is inspired, of course, by biological evolution. So what are genetic algorithms used for? What have they taught us about the natural process of evolution? And how can we use them to improve our world?

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