Abstraction and representation in living organisms: when does a biological system compute?

Dominic Horsman; Viv  Kendon; Susan Stepney; Peter Young

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-43784-2_6

Abstraction and representation in living organisms: when does a biological system compute?

Dominic Horsman, Viv Kendon, Susan Stepney, Peter Young

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

Abstract

Even the simplest known living organisms are complex chemical processing systems. But how sophisticated is the behaviour that arises from this? We present a framework in which even bacteria can be identified as capable of representing information in arbitrary signal molecules, to facilitate altering their behaviour to optimise their food supplies, for example. Known as Abstraction/Representation theory (AR theory), this framework makes precise the relationship between physical systems and abstract concepts. Originally developed to answer the question of when a physical system is computing, AR theory naturally extends to the realm of biological systems to bring clarity to questions of computation at the cellular level.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Representation and Reality in Humans, Other Living Organisms and Intelligent Machines
Editors	Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic, Raffaela Giovagnoli
Publisher	Springer
Pages	91-116
ISBN (Print)	978-3-319-43784-2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43784-2_6
Publication status	Published - 1 Sept 2017

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10.1007/978-3-319-43784-2_6

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title = "Abstraction and representation in living organisms: when does a biological system compute?",

abstract = "Even the simplest known living organisms are complex chemical processing systems. But how sophisticated is the behaviour that arises from this? We present a framework in which even bacteria can be identified as capable of representing information in arbitrary signal molecules, to facilitate altering their behaviour to optimise their food supplies, for example. Known as Abstraction/Representation theory (AR theory), this framework makes precise the relationship between physical systems and abstract concepts. Originally developed to answer the question of when a physical system is computing, AR theory naturally extends to the realm of biological systems to bring clarity to questions of computation at the cellular level.",

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Abstraction and representation in living organisms: when does a biological system compute? / Horsman, Dominic; Kendon, Viv ; Stepney, Susan et al.
Representation and Reality in Humans, Other Living Organisms and Intelligent Machines. ed. / Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic; Raffaela Giovagnoli. Springer, 2017. p. 91-116.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

TY - CHAP

T1 - Abstraction and representation in living organisms

T2 - when does a biological system compute?

AU - Horsman, Dominic

AU - Kendon, Viv

AU - Stepney, Susan

AU - Young, Peter

PY - 2017/9/1

Y1 - 2017/9/1

N2 - Even the simplest known living organisms are complex chemical processing systems. But how sophisticated is the behaviour that arises from this? We present a framework in which even bacteria can be identified as capable of representing information in arbitrary signal molecules, to facilitate altering their behaviour to optimise their food supplies, for example. Known as Abstraction/Representation theory (AR theory), this framework makes precise the relationship between physical systems and abstract concepts. Originally developed to answer the question of when a physical system is computing, AR theory naturally extends to the realm of biological systems to bring clarity to questions of computation at the cellular level.

AB - Even the simplest known living organisms are complex chemical processing systems. But how sophisticated is the behaviour that arises from this? We present a framework in which even bacteria can be identified as capable of representing information in arbitrary signal molecules, to facilitate altering their behaviour to optimise their food supplies, for example. Known as Abstraction/Representation theory (AR theory), this framework makes precise the relationship between physical systems and abstract concepts. Originally developed to answer the question of when a physical system is computing, AR theory naturally extends to the realm of biological systems to bring clarity to questions of computation at the cellular level.

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BT - Representation and Reality in Humans, Other Living Organisms and Intelligent Machines

A2 - Dodig-Crnkovic, Gordana

A2 - Giovagnoli, Raffaela

PB - Springer

ER -

Abstraction and representation in living organisms: when does a biological system compute?

Abstract

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