| Revision as of 19:49, 3 August 2005 edit160.94.145.130 (talk) →Areas of research← Previous edit | Revision as of 05:23, 6 September 2005 edit undo206.148.108.120 (talk) [9/5/2005 - added paragraphs on ordered water and 6^n analog math ---- Ralph Frost, refrost@isp.com,Next edit → | ||
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| '''Biologically-inspired computing''' (also '''bio-inspired computing''') is a field of study that loosely knits together subfields related to the topics of ], ] and ]. It is often closely related to the field of ], as many of its pursuits can be linked to ]. It relies heavily on the fields of ], ] and ]. Briefly put, it is the use of computers to model nature, and simultaneously the study of nature to improve the usage of computers. | '''Biologically-inspired computing''' (also '''bio-inspired computing''') is a field of study that loosely knits together subfields related to the topics of ], ] and ]. It is often closely related to the field of ], as many of its pursuits can be linked to ]. It relies heavily on the fields of ], ] and ]. Briefly put, it is the use of computers to model nature, and simultaneously the study of nature to improve the usage of computers. | ||
| '''Imagine consciousness as a single internal analog language...''' | |||
| Another level of '''Biologically-inspired computing''' arises when one stops and notices that living cells participate in the respiration reaction where organics are combined with oxygen yielding carbon dioxide, water and some energy flow. Each water molecule so produced, since it generally is in the form of a tetrahedron having two 'plus' and two 'minus' vertices, can be arranged within an enfolding field in one of at least six ways. A sequence or stack of n-molecules, then, theoretically can always be fashioned into 6^n different patterns. For n=16, this would yield 6^16 or 2.82x10^12 different possible expressions or associations. Considering that experience occurs in concert with respiration, it does not require too great a stretch of the imagination to notice that the selection of different 'codings' in strings of the water molecules being produced ought to be repeatable for the same or strongly similar experiences. For example, consider the resonating experience of a care-giver warning a child about a hot stove, or the like. | |||
| Such a fluid notion quickly regenerates a simple view of a ubiquitous single internal analog language made of ordered water forged by experience during respiration. The "six possible states" of each molecule provides a natural basis for multi-valued or fuzzy logic. The continual creation of water molecules arranged in patterns over the widely distributed sites within adjacent cells in living issues is not unlike an array of Turine Machines writing out tapes. One can imagine that a growing signal could influence an enlarging local region until a balancing action was prompted. The 6 possible sets could, for example, take on values of "FIGHT, probably fight, maybe fight, maybe flee, probably flee, FLEE", or similar possibilities. Remembering the persistence and stability of bound water in organic matrices, the same water artifacts can also be seen as being a resonable candidate for fashioning memory and also for forming looping, endless "tapes" that run unconscious processes. | |||
| Given such a view, readers may further see that the Boolean math and logic may be a simplified subset of this innate, internal 6^n analog language. In this manner, hopefully readers can see and grow to appreciate that biological-inspired computing has deep and deliciously elegant, thirst-quenching roots. | |||
| [Added by Ralph Frost, refrost@isp.com, 9/5/2005 - summarizing and extending the author's recent works, some of which are at http://www.frostlowenergyphysics.com and also in sporadic posts to | |||
| sci.physics.research beginning in 1996. (Search Google Groups for: 'ralph e frost'.)] | |||
| ==Areas of research== | ==Areas of research== | ||
Revision as of 05:23, 6 September 2005
Biologically-inspired computing (also bio-inspired computing) is a field of study that loosely knits together subfields related to the topics of connectionism, social behaviour and emergence. It is often closely related to the field of artificial intelligence, as many of its pursuits can be linked to machine learning. It relies heavily on the fields of biology, computer science and mathematics. Briefly put, it is the use of computers to model nature, and simultaneously the study of nature to improve the usage of computers.
Imagine consciousness as a single internal analog language...
Another level of Biologically-inspired computing arises when one stops and notices that living cells participate in the respiration reaction where organics are combined with oxygen yielding carbon dioxide, water and some energy flow. Each water molecule so produced, since it generally is in the form of a tetrahedron having two 'plus' and two 'minus' vertices, can be arranged within an enfolding field in one of at least six ways. A sequence or stack of n-molecules, then, theoretically can always be fashioned into 6^n different patterns. For n=16, this would yield 6^16 or 2.82x10^12 different possible expressions or associations. Considering that experience occurs in concert with respiration, it does not require too great a stretch of the imagination to notice that the selection of different 'codings' in strings of the water molecules being produced ought to be repeatable for the same or strongly similar experiences. For example, consider the resonating experience of a care-giver warning a child about a hot stove, or the like.
Such a fluid notion quickly regenerates a simple view of a ubiquitous single internal analog language made of ordered water forged by experience during respiration. The "six possible states" of each molecule provides a natural basis for multi-valued or fuzzy logic. The continual creation of water molecules arranged in patterns over the widely distributed sites within adjacent cells in living issues is not unlike an array of Turine Machines writing out tapes. One can imagine that a growing signal could influence an enlarging local region until a balancing action was prompted. The 6 possible sets could, for example, take on values of "FIGHT, probably fight, maybe fight, maybe flee, probably flee, FLEE", or similar possibilities. Remembering the persistence and stability of bound water in organic matrices, the same water artifacts can also be seen as being a resonable candidate for fashioning memory and also for forming looping, endless "tapes" that run unconscious processes.
Given such a view, readers may further see that the Boolean math and logic may be a simplified subset of this innate, internal 6^n analog language. In this manner, hopefully readers can see and grow to appreciate that biological-inspired computing has deep and deliciously elegant, thirst-quenching roots.
[Added by Ralph Frost, refrost@isp.com, 9/5/2005 - summarizing and extending the author's recent works, some of which are at http://www.frostlowenergyphysics.com and also in sporadic posts to sci.physics.research beginning in 1996. (Search Google Groups for: 'ralph e frost'.)]
Areas of research
Some areas of study encompassed under the canon of biologically-inspired computing, and their biological counterparts:
- genetic algorithms ↔ evolution
- biodegradability prediction ↔ biodegradation
- cellular automata ↔ life
- emergent systems ↔ ants, termites, bees, etc
- neural networks ↔ the brain
- artificial life ↔ life
- artificial immune systems ↔ immune system
- rendering (computer graphics) ↔ patterning and rendering of animal skins, bird feathers, mollusk shells and bacterial colonies
- lindenmayer systems ↔ plant structures
- membrane computers ↔ intra-membrane molecular processes in the living cell
- excitable media ↔ forest fires, the Mexican wave, heart conditions, etc
Bio-inspired computing and AI
One way in which bio-inspired computing differs from artificial intelligence (AI) is in how it takes a more evolutionary approach to learning, as opposed to the what could be described as 'creationist' methods used in traditional AI. In traditional AI, intelligence is often programmed from above: the programmer is the creator, and makes something and imbues it with its intelligence. Bio-inspired computing, on the other hand, takes a more bottom-up, decentralised approach; bio-inspired techniques often involve the method of specifying a set of simple rules, a set of simple organisms which adhere to those rules, and a method of iteratively applying those rules. After several generations of rule application it is usually the case that some forms of complex behaviour arise. Complexity gets built upon complexity until the end result is something markedly complex, and quite often completely counterintuitive from what the original rules would be expected to produce (see complex systems).
Natural evolution is a good analogy to this method–the rules of evolution (selection, recombination/reproduction, mutation and more recently transposition) are in principle simple rules, yet over thousands of years have produced remarkably complex organisms. A similar technique is used in genetic algorithms.
Related articles
- Artificial life
- Artificial neural network
- Biomimetics
- Bioinformatics
- Connectionism
- Fuzzy logic
- Gerald Edelman
- Janine Benyus
- Mathematical biology
- Mathematical model
- Olaf Sporns
Recommended reading
(the following are presented in ascending order of complexity and depth, with those new to the field suggested to start from the top)
- Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software, Steven Johnson.
- Dr. Dobb's Journal, Apr-1991. (Issue theme: Biocomputing)
- Turtles, Termites and Traffic Jams, Mitchel Resnick.
- Understanding Nonlinear Dynamics, Daniel Kaplan and Leon Glass.
- "The Computational Beauty of Nature", Gary William Flake. MIT Press. 1998, hardcover ed.; 2000, paperback ed. An in-depth discussion of many of the topics and underlying themes of bio-inspired computing.