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 plantlike 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 an intriguing glimpse into the future of
technology by one of the most creative thinkers working in computer
science today. As Peter J. Bentley explains, the next giant step in
computing technology is already under way as computer scientists
attempt to create digital universes that replicate the natural
world. Within these digital universes, we will evolve solutions to
problems, construct digital brains that can learn and think, and
use immune systems to trap and destroy computer viruses.
The biological world is the model for the next generation of
computer software. By adapting the principles of biology, computer
scientists will make it possible for computers to function as the
natural world does. In practical terms, this will mean that we will
soon have "smart" devices, such as houses that will keep the
temperature as we like it and automobiles that will start only for
drivers they recognize (through voice recognition or other systems)
and that will navigate highways safely and with maximum fuel
efficiency. Computers will soon be powerful enough and small enough
that they can become part of clothing. "Digital agents" will be
able to help us find a bank or restaurant in a city that we have
never visited before, even as we walk through the airport.
Miniature robots may even be incorporated into our bodies to
monitor our health.
"Digital Biology" is also an exploration of biology itself from
a new perspective. We must understand how nature works in its most
intimate detail before we can use these same biological processes
inside our computers. Already scientists engaged in this work have
gained new insights into the elegant simplicity of the natural
universe.
This is a visionary book, written in accessible, nontechnical
language, that explains how cutting-edge computer science will
shape our world in the coming decades.
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