# Evolutionary Computation > **Machine-Evolution Nexus:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution]] places this node within the history and governance of substrate-independent evolution. **Domain:** Computation / Optimization / Evolution **Doc Type:** Canonical Wiki Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition Evolutionary computation is a family of population-based methods using variation, evaluation, selection and inheritance to search or adapt. ## Nexus Context It includes genetic algorithms and genetic programming but differs from open digital ecology when humans fix the representation, objective and reproduction schedule. ## Evidence Boundary The methods instantiate selected evolutionary mechanisms; they do not automatically create organisms, open-ended evolution or legitimate objectives. ## Relationships [[wiki/Evolutionary Algorithms|Evolutionary Algorithms]], [[wiki/Genetic Algorithm|Genetic Algorithm]], [[wiki/Optimization|Optimization]], [[wiki/Ecosystem Scenario|Ecosystem Scenario]] ## Sources / Provenance - Eiben and Smith, _Introduction to Evolutionary Computing_; Holland and Koza.