Search: domain:fcampelo.github.io
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The Evolutionary Computation 'Bestiary' is a highly critical and satirical catalog of metaphor-based meta-heuristic search algorithms, intended to document the "exuberance" and proliferation of methods inspired by a vast, eclectic range of natural, supernatural, human, and physical phenomena, including classics like Genetic Algorithms and Ant Colony Optimization alongside numerous examples such as African Buffalo Optimization, Al-Biruni Earth Radius, Black Widow Optimization, COVID-19 variations, Honey Badger Algorithm, Hippopotamus Optimization, and Zombie Survival Optimization. Maintained by Claus Aranha and Felipe Campelo, the resource explicitly disavows the quality of most listed methods, labeling them as "ridiculous" and largely a "useless waste of space," functioning as "The island of Doctor Moreau" to highlight a phase in the field's history over-reliant on metaphor rather than mathematics. The document strongly recommends reading several critical papers that expose the lack of rigor and novelty in many of these metaphor-driven techniques, while algorithms are included based on peer-review publication and naming the metaphor in the title or abstract, listing only the earliest known mention.