They've been around for a while, actually. See below for some work from the early 1990's.
Is EC mathematically reasonable?
I'm not sure
what that means, but they can be useful, especially when you are
looking for something that is novel, rather than meeting specific,
pre-determined criteria. Karl Sims made a business out of them for
generating graphics. "Survival of the prettiest," he called it.
For more info:
http://www.genarts.com/karl/http://www.genarts.com/karl/papers/siggraph91.html