Computers from plants we never made. Speculations

We discuss possible designs and prototypes of computing systems that could be based on morphological development of roots, interaction of roots, and analog electrical computation with plants, and plant-derived electronic components. In morphological plant processors data are represented by initial configuration of roots and configurations of sources of attractants and repellents; results of computation are represented by topology of the roots' network. Computation is implemented by the roots following gradients of attractants and repellents, as well as interacting with each other. Problems solvable by plant roots, in principle, include shortest-path, minimum spanning tree, Voronoi diagram, $\alpha$-shapes, convex subdivision of concave polygons. Electrical properties of plants can be modified by loading the plants with functional nanoparticles or coating parts of plants of conductive polymers. Thus, we are in position to make living variable resistors, capacitors, operational amplifiers, multipliers, potentiometers and fixed-function generators. The electrically modified plants can implement summation, integration with respect to time, inversion, multiplication, exponentiation, logarithm, division. Mathematical and engineering problems to be solved can be represented in plant root networks of resistive or reaction elements. Developments in plant-based computing architectures will trigger emergence of a unique community of biologists, electronic engineering and computer scientists working together to produce living electronic devices which future green computers will be made of.Comment: The chapter will be published in "Inspired by Nature. Computing inspired by physics, chemistry and biology. Essays presented to Julian Miller on the occasion of his 60th birthday", Editors: Susan Stepney and Andrew Adamatzky (Springer, 2017

06031 Abstracts Collection -- Organic Computing -- Controlled Emergence

Organic Computing has emerged recently as a challenging vision for future information processing systems, based on the insight that we will soon be surrounded by large collections of autonomous systems equipped with sensors and actuators to be aware of their environment, to communicate freely, and to organize themselves in order to perform the actions and services required. Organic Computing Systems will adapt dynamically to the current conditions of its environment, they will be self-organizing, self-configuring, self-healing, self-protecting, self-explaining, and context-aware. From 15.01.06 to 20.01.06, the Dagstuhl Seminar 06031 ``Organic Computing -- Controlled Emergence\u27\u27 was held in the International Conference and Research Center (IBFI), Schloss Dagstuhl. The seminar was characterized by the very constructive search for common ground between engineering and natural sciences, between informatics on the one hand and biology, neuroscience, and chemistry on the other. The common denominator was the objective to build practically usable self-organizing and emergent systems or their components. An indicator for the practical orientation of the seminar was the large number of OC application systems, envisioned or already under implementation, such as the Internet, robotics, wireless sensor networks, traffic control, computer vision, organic systems on chip, an adaptive and self-organizing room with intelligent sensors or reconfigurable guiding systems for smart office buildings. The application orientation was also apparent by the large number of methods and tools presented during the seminar, which might be used as building blocks for OC systems, such as an evolutionary design methodology, OC architectures, especially several implementations of observer/controller structures, measures and measurement tools for emergence and complexity, assertion-based methods to control self-organization, wrappings, a software methodology to build reflective systems, and components for OC middleware. Organic Computing is clearly oriented towards applications but is augmented at the same time by more theoretical bio-inspired and nature-inspired work, such as chemical computing, theory of complex systems and non-linear dynamics, control mechanisms in insect swarms, homeostatic mechanisms in the brain, a quantitative approach to robustness, abstraction and instantiation as a central metaphor for understanding complex systems. Compared to its beginnings, Organic Computing is coming of age. The OC vision is increasingly padded with meaningful applications and usable tools, but the path towards full OC systems is still complex. There is progress in a more scientific understanding of emergent processes. In the future, we must understand more clearly how to open the configuration space of technical systems for on-line modification. Finally, we must make sure that the human user remains in full control while allowing the systems to optimize

Overcoming the Newtonian Paradigm: The Unfinished Project of Theoretical Biology from a Schellingian Perspective

Defending Robert Rosen’s claim that in every confrontation between physics and biology it is physics that has always had to give ground, it is shown that many of the most important advances in mathematics and physics over the last two centuries have followed from Schelling’s demand for a new physics that could make the emergence of life intelligible. Consequently, while reductionism prevails in biology, many biophysicists are resolutely anti-reductionist. This history is used to identify and defend a fragmented but progressive tradition of anti-reductionist biomathematics. It is shown that the mathematicoephysico echemical morphology research program, the biosemiotics movement, and the relational biology of Rosen, although they have developed independently of each other, are built on and advance this antireductionist tradition of thought. It is suggested that understanding this history and its relationship to the broader history of post-Newtonian science could provide guidance for and justify both the integration of these strands and radically new work in post-reductionist biomathematics

Approximating Mexican highways with slime mould

Plasmodium of Physarum polycephalum is a single cell visible by unaided eye. During its foraging behavior the cell spans spatially distributed sources of nutrients with a protoplasmic network. Geometrical structure of the protoplasmic networks allows the plasmodium to optimize transport of nutrients between remote parts of its body. Assuming major Mexican cities are sources of nutrients how much structure of Physarum protoplasmic network correspond to structure of Mexican Federal highway network? To find an answer undertook a series of laboratory experiments with living Physarum polycephalum. We represent geographical locations of major cities by oat flakes, place a piece of plasmodium in Mexico city area, record the plasmodium's foraging behavior and extract topology of nutrient transport networks. Results of our experiments show that the protoplasmic network formed by Physarum is isomorphic, subject to limitations imposed, to a network of principle highways. Ideas and results of the paper may contribute towards future developments in bio-inspired road planning