Cybernetics and Development
International Series of Monographs in Pure and Applied Biology: Zoology
Published on 22. January 2016
200 pages
978-1-4831-5511-1 (ISBN)
Description
Cybernetics and Development deals with the ways in which growing and developing biological systems control themselves during development. It is a preliminary attempt to apply some of the insights and techniques of cybernetics to the problem of understanding such development and its control. The book begins with a discussion of the nature of cybernetics and its methods. Separate chapters cover the use of cybernetics in the field of biological development; previous work in the area of cybernetics related to automata theory; and the application of information theory to development. Subsequent chapters present models of development. These include computer programs which continually replicate themselves and control the resulting development; growing automata nets as models of development; and a method that allows a system to control the relative sizes of its parts during development and afterwards during regeneration. This book provides enough background material to make it understandable both to the biologist with little knowledge of cybernetics and the cybernetician with no great knowledge of developmental biology.
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Content
Preface1. The Cybernetic Approach Introduction The Nature of Cybernetics Criticisms of Cybernetics References2. The Problems of Development The Relevance of Cybernetics Background in Biology An Axiomatization of Development Some Basic Problems References3. Cybernetics and Development Cybernetic Models of Development Models of Self-Reproduction Evolution, Learning, and Development References4. Information Theory and Development Amount of Information in the Organism Changes in Information Content during Development Preformation and Epigenesis General Discussion References5. Development on the Computer Programming Development Some Basic Models Towards Greater Complexity References6. Growing Automata Nets Design for a Zygote Some Algorithms for Development The Nucleus and Its Environments References7. The Control of Pattern A Model of Pattern Control A Genetic Interpretation of the Model References8. Discussion Self-Reference in Development Development into Complexity Possibilities for Further Research Concluding Remarks ReferencesAppendix 1. National-Elliott 803 Instruction Code 2. Information Theory References 3. Turing Machines References 4. The Jacob and Monod Work ReferencesIndex
