UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE
		 COMPUTER SCIENCE RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM

			      presents

                "Bio-Computing and the Formalization
                        of Self-Organization"

			   Dr. Paolo Dini
		 (Department of Media and Communications,
	     London School of Economics and Political Science)


			17 December 2008 (Wednesday)

			  Lecture Theatre E350
		       Hatfield, College Lane Campus
			       3 - 4 pm

	       Coffee/tea and biscuits will be available.

		    Everyone is Welcome to Attend



Abstract:


In this talk I will summarize my work in the past 6 years and over
3 EU projects (DBE, OPAALS, BIONETS) in trying to pose the problem
of self-organization in software from a biological perspective. The
physical basis of self-organization in biology has several facets,
only one of which carries naturally to computer science: memory. This
explains the relative ease with which evolutionary algorithms can
be instantiated as software processes. Minimization of free energy,
by contrast, does not have a natural counterpart in computer science,
forcing us to shift our perspective from cause-effect mechanisms to the
formalization of constraints. In this talk, therefore, I will recount the
steps that have led me to the current coarse definition of the problem
as one of reconciling the discrete and algebraic computational nature
of cell biology with the dynamical symmetries embedded in its non-linear
behaviour, within a global framework of interaction computing. Ultimately,
we seek an integration of the two forms of self-organization that is
analogous to what DNA has been able to achieve: the same molecule is a
carrier of hereditary traits across generations whilst also guiding the
morphogenesis and metabolism of the individual organism.

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Hertfordshire Computer Science Research Colloquium
http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~nehaniv/colloq