Natural Computing Paradigms and Emergent Computation - Systematic Design for Emergence in Cellular Nonlinear Networks - page 1

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Natural Computing Paradigms and Emergent
Computation
Natural computing was recently defined as a novel paradigm for computation
where nature is taken as an example to define computational architectures and
algorithms capable to solve problems efficiently and while being based on a
low complexity description of its structure. A living being can be considered
as performing various natural computation tasks. While exhibiting complexity
in performing various functional tasks (pattern recognition, decision, orienta-
tion, optimization, planning, creative thinking, self-repair and self-reproduction, to
name just a few) it is assumed that the entire development of the being is encoded
within its genome. Due to recent progress in mapping the entire human genome, it
is widely accepted that such a genome contains no more than several megabytes of
information stored in the strings of DNA, being even simpler for more primitive
species. Thus, in a simplified approach, the entire behavioral complexity of a living
being can be regarded as being encoded in a relatively compact information
storage structure, the DNA. This is what we will call structural information , i.e.
the minimal information required to construct a computational architecture.
1.1 Principles of Natural Computing
The goal of computational intelligence is to understand and exploit some basic
principles of the natural computing to construct various artificial systems capable
to mimic some of the functions of living beings. Figure 1.1 gives a sketch of the
main ingredients and principles to be considered in analyzing and understanding
a naturally inspired computing systems. Some of these principles are detailed next.
1.1.1 Natural Computing Structures as Hierarchies of Interconnected
Cells
As seen in the above figure, in order to achieve functionality, the gene information
is unfolded in creating many similar cells in a basic hierarchy and these cells are
naturally distributed so that each cell typically communicates with its immediate
neighbors . The local connectivity is the essence of the cellular computing model,
to be developed further. In nature, besides nearest neighbors, also long-range con-
nections are present allowing a small fraction of distant cells to communicate.