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Concept
Bio-inspired computing
Summary
Bio-inspired computing, short for biologically inspired computing, is a field of study which seeks to solve computer science problems using models of biology. It relates to connectionism, social behavior, and emergence. Within computer science, bio-inspired computing relates to artificial intelligence and machine learning. Bio-inspired computing is a major subset of natural computation.
Early Ideas
The ideas behind biological computing trace back to 1936 and the first description of an abstract computer, which is now known as a Turing machine. Turing firstly described the abstract construct using a biological specimen. Turing imagined a mathematician that has three important attributes. He always has a pencil with an eraser, an unlimited number of papers and a working set of eyes. The eyes allow the mathematician to see and perceive any symbols written on the paper while the pencil allows him to write and erase any symbols that he wants. Lastly, the unlimited paper allows him to store anything he wants memory. Using these ideas he was able to describe an abstraction of the modern digital computer. However Turing mentioned that anything that can perform these functions can be considered such a machine and he even said that even electricity should not be required to describe digital computation and machine thinking in general.
Neural Networks
First described in 1943 by Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts, neural networks are a prevalent example of biological systems inspiring the creation of computer algorithms. They first mathematically described that a system of simplistic neurons was able to produce simple logical operations such as logical conjunction, disjunction and negation. They further showed that a system of neural networks can be used to carry out any calculation that requires finite memory. Around 1970 the research around neural networks slowed down and many consider a 1969 book by Marvin Minsky and Seymour Papert as the main cause.
Official source
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