Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
1. B = C ( from Linguistics)
2. A = B ( from Cell Language Theory)
3. A = C (leads to Semantic Biology)
Fig. 12.38 Predicting the biological functions of the components of proteinese based on the cell
language theory (Ji 1997a, b). 1
¼
Major premise; 2
¼
minor premise; 3
¼
conclusion. A, B and
C refer to the columns so labeled in Table
12.18
The relation between Columns
B
and
C
are well established in linguistics
(Hockett 1960; Culler 1991). The relation between Columns
A
and
B
is suggested
by the cell language theory. Therefore, Column
A
and
C
must be related, as the
following syllogism demonstrates:
Based on the inference presented in Fig.
12.38
, it appears reasonable to suggest
that
semantic biology
of Barbieri (2003, 2008a, b) emerges logically from the
combination of
linguistics
and
molecular biology,
i.e.
,
the
cell language theory
(Ji 1997a, b)
.
12.18 Computing with Numbers, Words, and Molecules
The concept of
computing
is widely discussed not only in computer science and
engineering but also in mathematics (Wolfram 2002), physics (Lloyd 2006), brain/
mind research, and biology (Adleman 1994; Ji 1999a). This is most likely because
computing is a general concept that can be defined as follows:
Computing is a series of the input-induced state transitions of a material system, artificial or
natural, obeying a set of axioms, rules, and/or laws, leading to observable outputs. (12.53)
Thus defined, the concept of computing can be applied even to the Universe
(Lloyd 2006, 2009). In Table
12.18
in Sect.
12.16
, it was suggested that protein
networks of the cell are the units of reasoning or computing. That is,
the cell
computes
. In this section, the following items are discussed:
1. Three classes of computing
2. Computing as a category
3. The “conformon-P machine” as a formal model of the living cell
4. The “Turing/Zadeh complementarity” model of computing
5. The Bhopalator, a molecular model of the living cell, and its implications for
computational theories of mind
(1) We can recognize three classes of computing-
numerical
,
lexical
, and
molecular
. They are distinguished by the nature of signs being manipulated to
accomplish computing. The first class of computing is too well known to be
