View source for Biological Computation: A View from Computer Science

By
[http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~mm/ Melanie Mitchell], Portland  State University

:Since the beginning of the computer age, the terms "information processing" and "computing" have been used to describe not only the actions of traditional, "von-Neumann-style" computers, but also the dynamics of biological systems, ranging from the brain to the immune system, cellular metabolism, and genetic regulation.  It is becoming increasingly clear that, given the "non-von-Neumann" architectural features of these natural systems -- large and varying numbers of relatively simple, stochastic, and noisy components, limited, dynamic, and unreliable connections, and no central control -- these systems require a radically different model of information processing than the traditional one.

:In this brief talk I will frame the problem of developing such a model by proposing several questions that I believe must be answered if a system is to be usefully described as "computing" or "processing information".


Back to [[Principles of Biological Computation - Agenda | Agenda]].