There are interesting developments in formally defined and verified programs (including implementations). For certain domains that are non-intuitive, exploring the solution-space is now much nearer in reach.<p>For example (as I noted in private communication to John Koza) exploring the protocol-space of distributed consensus algorithms on top of something like Microsoft Research&#x27;s IronFleet (with the GP generating Gafny code) appears to be both possible and imo a fruitful avenue for researchers in the field.<p>[p.s. Note that Genetic Programming is distinct from Genetic Algorithms.]