The fallacy of general purpose bio-inspired computing
The fallacy of general purpose bio-inspired computing
Bio-inspired computing comes in many flavours, inspired by biological systems from which salient features and/or organisational principles have been idealised and abstracted. These bio-inspired schemes have sometimes been demonstrated to be general purpose; able to approximate arbitrary dynamics, encode arbitrary structures, or even carry out universal computation. The generality of these abilities is typically (although often implicitly) reasoned to be an attractive and worthwhile trait. Here, it is argued that such reasoning is fallacious. Natural systems are nichiversal rather than universal, and we should expect the computational systems that they inspire to be similarly limited in their performance, even if they are ultimately capable of generality in their competence. Practical and methodological implications of this position for the use of bio-inspired computing within artificial life are outlined.
0262681625
540-545
Bullock, Seth
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Rocha, L.M.
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Yaeger, L.S.
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Bedau, M.A.
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Floreano, D.
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Goldstone, R.L.
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Vespignani, A.
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2006
Bullock, Seth
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Rocha, L.M.
499ef73f-abe6-4c8d-b3ae-f549b22acd8c
Yaeger, L.S.
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Bedau, M.A.
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Floreano, D.
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Goldstone, R.L.
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Vespignani, A.
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Bullock, Seth
(2006)
The fallacy of general purpose bio-inspired computing.
Rocha, L.M., Yaeger, L.S., Bedau, M.A., Floreano, D., Goldstone, R.L. and Vespignani, A.
(eds.)
Tenth International Conference on Artificial Life.
.
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
Bio-inspired computing comes in many flavours, inspired by biological systems from which salient features and/or organisational principles have been idealised and abstracted. These bio-inspired schemes have sometimes been demonstrated to be general purpose; able to approximate arbitrary dynamics, encode arbitrary structures, or even carry out universal computation. The generality of these abilities is typically (although often implicitly) reasoned to be an attractive and worthwhile trait. Here, it is argued that such reasoning is fallacious. Natural systems are nichiversal rather than universal, and we should expect the computational systems that they inspire to be similarly limited in their performance, even if they are ultimately capable of generality in their competence. Practical and methodological implications of this position for the use of bio-inspired computing within artificial life are outlined.
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nichiversal.pdf
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Published date: 2006
Venue - Dates:
Tenth International Conference on Artificial Life, 2006-01-01
Organisations:
Agents, Interactions & Complexity
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Local EPrints ID: 264886
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/264886
ISBN: 0262681625
PURE UUID: 2b0770da-c3d6-4ae3-9387-ec9bf5652678
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Date deposited: 22 Nov 2007 09:52
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 07:58
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Contributors
Editor:
L.M. Rocha
Editor:
L.S. Yaeger
Editor:
M.A. Bedau
Editor:
D. Floreano
Editor:
R.L. Goldstone
Editor:
A. Vespignani
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