> I remember when I first learnt about neural networks I thought maybe coupling them with some kind of evolutionary approach might be what was needed to make them work.

I did this in an artificial life simulation. It was pretty fun to see the creatures change from pure random bouncing around to movement that helped them get food and move away from something eating them.

My naive vision was all kinds of advanced movement, like hiding around corners for prey, but it never got close to something like that.

As I worked the evolutionary parameters I began to realize more and more that the process of evolving specific advanced traits requires lots of time and (I think) environmental complexity and compartmentalization of groups of creatures.

There are lots of simple/dumb capabilities that help with survival and they are much much easier to acquire than a more advanced capability like being aware of other creatures and tracking it's movement on the other side of an obstacle.