Abstract
This chapter considers the nature of computation in its guise as a model of the processing ‘mechanism’ which permits biological entities to respond to external stimuli or threats. We address limitation in the computational capability of a system with increase in overall system size and with reduction in computing element size. The possibility of ‘chaotic’ computation is mooted, located somewhere between conventional and quantum computations, and the way in which it may permit access to higher computational states which are inaccessible using conventional element-size-based computation. We distinguish between data and information, and question the necessity of an inverter in less-than-exact computational systems. The partitioning of computation between data-conserving comparison and data-destructive decision-making is laid out. The concept of a phase space in the current context is briefly examined. Mathematics suffers from difficulties in the temporally based biological context, and we look at the natures of time and space.
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Cottam, R., Ranson, W. (2017). Just in Time. In: Bridging the Gap between Life and Physics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74533-6_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74533-6_4
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