Genetic Algorithms and Classifier Systems: Foundations and Future Directions

Theoretical questions about classifier systems, with rare exceptions, apply equally to other adaptive nonlinear networks (ANNs) such as the connectionist models of cognitive psychology, the immune system, economic systems, ecologies, and genetic systems. This paper discusses pervasive properties of ANNs and the kinds of mathematics relevant to questions about these properties. It discusses relevant functional extensions of the basic classifier system and extensions of the extant mathematical theory. An appendix briefly reviews some of the key theorems about classifier systems. 6 refs.