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International Conference on Open Philosophies for Associative Autopoietic Digital Ecosystem

OPAALS 2010: Digital Ecosystems pp 199–212Cite as

Towards Autopoietic Computing

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Abstract

A key challenge in modern computing is to develop systems that address complex, dynamic problems in a scalable and efficient way, because the increasing complexity of software makes designing and maintaining efficient and flexible systems increasingly difficult. Biological systems are thought to possess robust, scalable processing paradigms that can automatically manage complex, dynamic problem spaces, possessing several properties that may be useful in computer systems. The biological properties of self-organisation, self-replication, self-management, and scalability are addressed in an interesting way by autopoiesis, a descriptive theory of the cell founded on the concept of a system’s circular organisation to define its boundary with its environment. In this paper, therefore, we review the main concepts of autopoiesis and then discuss how they could be related to fundamental concepts and theories of computation. The paper is conceptual in nature and the emphasis is on the review of other people’s work in this area as part of a longer-term strategy to develop a formal theory of autopoietic computing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom

    Gerard Briscoe & Paolo Dini

Authors
  1. Gerard Briscoe
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  2. Paolo Dini
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Pesquisas em Tecnologia e Inovacao (IPTI), Av. Sao Luis, 86, cj 192-19 Andar, CEP 01046 000, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    Fernando Antonio Basile Colugnati , Lia Carrari Rodrigues Lopes  & Saulo Faria Almeida Barretto ,  & 

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© 2010 ICST Institute for Computer Science, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering

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Briscoe, G., Dini, P. (2010). Towards Autopoietic Computing. In: Antonio Basile Colugnati, F., Lopes, L.C.R., Barretto, S.F.A. (eds) Digital Ecosystems. OPAALS 2010. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 67. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14859-0_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14859-0_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-14858-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-14859-0

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