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'Imagine a future world where computers
can create universes -- digital environments made from binary
ones and zeros. Imagine that within these universes there
exist biological forms that reproduce, grow and think. Imagine
plant-like forms, ant colonies, immune systems and brains,
all adapting, evolving and getting better at solving problems.
Imagine if our computers became greenhouses for a new kind
of nature. Just think what digital biology could do for
us.
Perhaps it could evolve new designs for
us, think up ways to detect fraud using digital neurons,
or solve scheduling problems with ants. Perhaps it could
detect hackers with immune systems or create music from
the patterns of growth of digital seashells. Perhaps it
would allow our computers to become creative and inventive.
Now stop imagining...'
Digital Biology is a book you can't
afford to ignore. Even dyed-in-the-wool technophobes will
be gripped by Peter Bentley's brilliantly lucid explanations
of how evolution, brains, insect swarms and immune systems
actually work and what computation really means. And with
this knowledge on board, the reader is taken on a fantastic
voyage to the wildest shores of computer technology today
(and in the foreseeable future), by way of digital universes
far beyond imagination.
Peter Bentley is an Honorary Research
Fellow at University College London (UCL) and a pioneer
in the use of evolutionary computation for creative design
and music. He also investigates the use of immune systems,
swarm intelligence and embryology for solving problems with
computers. Peter speaks regularly to international audiences
of academics, government officials and businessmen, and
his work has been filmed for television documentaries.
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