[Hplusroadmap] Fwd: [BBF Standards] Input/output

[Bryan Bishop]

On Monday 11 February 2008, Dan Bolser wrote:
> You might want to study a simple system first. The slime mould
> Dictyostelid have an interesting communication protocol based on cAMP
> - which is a very common 'secondary messenger' in cellular systems.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictyosteliida

Yes, that's what I was thinking as well. In computer architecture, we 
have specific address buses and we are able to figure out where 
messages come from (actually, their positioning on the input device 
tells us, by definition). But in a cell, we have molecular gradients to 
deal with, and the communication just does *not* work this way. There 
needs to be a way to transform our usual programming expectations into 
this wetware situation. 

> Similarly, methods of neuronal communication should be interesting to
> study. I heard about a new kind of chip that supported a live cell
> culture of rat brain. The researchers could 'talk to' the brain cells
> via electrodes implanted on the chip. This stimulus was used to track
> how brain cell development was related to information processing.
> However, one could imagine lots of other nice ideas based on the
> 'brain chip'.

There's tons more on neuroengineering -- there's all sorts of brains in 
a jar, neurons in a dish, MEAs, brain implants, and so on. It is 
somewhat my specialty interest. See the Innerspace Foundation, they say 
they are going to begin running neuroengineering competitions soon. 

http://heybryan.org/docs/neuro/

- Bryan
________________________________________
Bryan Bishop
http://heybryan.org/