Layer connections
While the layers in the model operate largely independently of one another
(which is what allows their description as separate layers) they are also
connected to one another in a variety of ways.
Firstly, the developmental layer is responsible for the creation
of the two calculation layers. It determined the shape and form of the
cells by controlling the type and orientation of individual sites.
The second calculation layer takes inputs from the
old DNA layer and from the first calculation layer.
It processes the information it receives from these sources and as its
outputs feeds the information into the developmental layer and the
new DNA layer.
The first calculation layer is the main layer in the model which
takes external connections. It receives information about target problems
from outside the automata, processes this information, and then replies
with proposed solutions. If these solutions are acceptable then the
cell is allowed to continue to live.
This layer has only one way of communicating with the other layers of the
automaton - it can transfer information to the second calculation
layer.
Deliberately it receives no input at all from the rest of the
automata once it has been created - indeed for all intents and purposes the
rest of the automata might as well not exist. This has been done because
under some circumstances, the rest of the automata will not, in fact,
exist. In other words, the first calculation layer has been
designed in such a way that it may be 'scraped off' the rest of the model
and used independently of it. Evolved circuitry etched on this layer of
a cell, or population of cells, can be largely divorced from all the
reproductive machinery responsible for its creation, resulting in a much
reduced component count.