Journeys in non-classical computation I: A grand challenge for computing research

Stepney, Susan; Braunstein, Samuel L.; Clark, John A.; Tyrrell, Andrew M.; Adamatzky, Andrew; Smith, Robert E.; Addis, Tom; Johnson, Colin G.; Timmis, Jon; Welch, Peter H.; Milner, Robin; Partridge, Derek

doi:10.1080/17445760500033291

Cited by 59 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 46 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…These characteristics are presumably reduced in caudal regions of the organism in order to preserve energy where they are not required, although we concede that other functions of the actin cytoskeleton that have not been examined here will also play a role in determining network topology. Biological substrates are often quoted as being 'massively parallel' in their ability to concurrently sense input from an almost incalculably large number of sensory data streams (Stepney et al 2005); our findings emphasise the efficiency with which such substrates may optimise these processes in response to evolutionary selection pressures, thus highlighting their value to the field of unconventional computing and bio-inspired computing design.…”

Section: On Dynamic Actin Network Transformationsmentioning

confidence: 82%

Cellular automata modelling of slime mould actin network signalling

Mayne

Adamatkzy

2016

Nat Comput

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Actin is a cytoskeletal protein which forms dense, highly interconnected networks within eukaryotic cells. A growing body of evidence suggests that actinmediated intra-and extracellular signalling is instrumental in facilitating organism-level emergent behaviour patterns which, crucially, may be characterised as natural expressions of computation. We use excitable cellular automata modelling to simulate signal transmission through cell arrays whose topology was extracted from images of Watershed transformation-derived actin network reconstructions; the actin networks sampled were from laboratory experimental observations of a model organism, slime mould Physarum polycephalum. Our results indicate that actin networks support directional transmission of generalised energetic phenomena, the amplification and transnetwork speed of which of which is proportional to network density (whose primary determinant is the anatomical location of the network sampled). Furthermore, this model also suggests the ability of such networks for supporting signal-signal interactions which may be characterised as Boolean logical operations, thus indicating that a cell's actin network may function as a nanoscale data transmission and processing network. We conclude by discussing the role of the cytoskeleton in facilitating intracellular computing, how computation can be implemented in such a network and practical considerations for designing 'useful' actin circuitry.

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Section: On Dynamic Actin Network Transformationsmentioning

confidence: 82%

Cellular automata modelling of slime mould actin network signalling

Mayne

Adamatkzy

2016

Nat Comput

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“…Similarly, giving virtual wasps a pheromone that they can lay down and follow like termites ("waspmites" [10]) enhances their computation abilities, and transforms their usually repetitive nests into more elaborate constructions. In modern biotechnological endeavors such as synthetic biology [19,28], real-world genomic information can also be tampered with in specific ways to steer the emergent collective behavior of cellular populations toward new outcomes, whether for biomedical applications (such as organ growth) or "natural computing" [44] (such as organic processors).…”

Section: Toward Programmable Self-organizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Morphogenetic Engineering endeavors are related to those of other innovative fields that have emerged during the last decade, mostly during the 2000's: artificial embryogeny (AE) [7,33,43,29,15], amorphous computing [1,13,35,49], spatial computing [20,5,6], programmable matter [22], autonomic computing [27], organic computing [31,50], natural/unconventional computing [44,37], complex systems engineering [34], ambient intelligence [32], and pervasive/ubiquitous computing [48]. ME, for its part, focuses on the strong architectural and complex functional properties of systems, and how these properties can be influenced or programmed at the microlevel.…”

Section: Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphogenetic Engineering: Reconciling Self-Organization and Architecture

Doursat

Sayama

Michel

2012

Understanding Complex Systems

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Generally, phenomena of spontaneous pattern formation are random and repetitive, whereas elaborate devices are the deterministic product of human design. Yet, biological organisms and collective insect constructions are exceptional examples of complex systems that are both architectured and self-organized. Can we understand their precise self-formation capabilities and integrate them with technological planning? Can physical systems be endowed with information, or informational systems be embedded in physics, to create autonomous morphologies and functions? This book is the first initiative of its kind toward establishing a new field of research, Morphogenetic Engineering, to explore the modeling and implementation of "self-architecturing" systems. Particular emphasis is set on the programmability and computational abilities of self-organization, properties that are often underappreciated in complex systems science-while, conversely, the benefits of selforganization are often underappreciated in engineering methodologies.

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“…If the notion of computation can be stretched, what does this imply for the computational side of computational functionalism? To do this, we take the taxonomy of classical computing assumptions devised by Stepney et al [33], and look at each part of this taxonomy in turn.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%