Why living bodies could be dead weight

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon McGregor
Keyword(s):  
Technical Analysis ◽  
Living System ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Folk Theory ◽  
Dead Weight ◽  
Autopoietic Systems ◽  
Target Article ◽  
Physical Constitution

This is a commentary on ‘Are living beings extended autopoietic systems? An embodied reply’ (Villalobos and Razeto-Barry 2019). The target article proposes a refinement of the autopoietic treatment of living systems, introducing an explicit necessary condition that every living system must be an “autopoietic body”, i.e. a system whose “physical constitution as a body” is “generated by its own poietic activity”. I argue that this criterion is ambiguous, and suggest that it is an expression of a folk theory that will prove inadequate under more rigorous technical analysis.

Discontinuous and continuous transitions of collective behaviors in living systems

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Li ◽  
Tingting Xue ◽  
Yu Sun ◽  
Jingfang Fan ◽  
Hui Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Collective Motion ◽  
Finite Size ◽  
Continuous Phase ◽  
Living System ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Finite Size Scaling ◽  
Continuous Transition ◽  
Collective Behaviors ◽  
Large Groups

Abstract Living systems are full of astonishing diversity and complexity of life. Despite differences in the length scales and cognitive abilities of these systems, collective motion of large groups of individuals can emerge. It is of great importance to seek for the fundamental principles of collective motion, such as phase transitions and their natures. Via an eigen microstate approach, we have found a discontinuous transition of density and a continuous transition of velocity in the Vicsek models of collective motion, which are identified by the finite-size scaling form of order-parameter. At strong noise, living systems behave like gas. With the decrease of noise, the interactions between the particles of a living system become stronger and make them come closer. The living system experiences then a discontinuous gas-liquid like transition of density. The even stronger interactions at smaller noise make the velocity directions of particles become ordered and there is a continuous phase transition of collective motion in addition.

scholarly journals Integrative concept of homeostasis: translating physiology into medicine

F1000Research ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 299
Author(s):  
Ivan Spasojević
Keyword(s):  
Living System ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Initial Condition ◽  
Adult Human ◽  
Input Side ◽  
Tremendous Amount ◽  
To Come ◽  
Integrative Concept ◽  
The One ◽  
Reductionist Approach

To truly understand living systems they must be viewed as a whole. In order to achieve this and to come to some law that living systems comply with, the reductionist approach, which has delivered a tremendous amount of data so far, should be complemented with integrative concepts. The current paper represents my humble attempt towards an integrative concept of homeostasis that would describe the (patho)physiological setup of adult human/mammal system, and that might be applicable in medicine. Homeostasis can be defined as time- and initial-condition-independent globally stabile state of non-equilibrium of a living system in which the interactions of system with the surroundings and internal processes are overall in balance or very near it. The presence of homeostasis or the shift from homeostasis of an adult human/mammal system can be described by equation that takes into account energy and informational input and output, catabolism and anabolism, oxidation and reduction, and entropy, where changes in the input should equal changes in the output within a specific period of time. Catabolism and oxidation are presented on the input side since the drive of the surroundings is to decompose and oxidize living systems, i.e. systems are under constant 'catabolic and oxidative pressure'. According to the equation, homeostasis might be regained by changing any of the input or output components in a proper manner (and within certain limits), not only the one(s) that has/have been changed in the first place resulting in the deviation from homeostasis.

Art as a Living System: Interactive Computer Artworks

Leonardo ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christa Sommerer ◽  
Laurent Mignonneau
Keyword(s):  
Image Processing ◽  
Human Computer Interaction ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Artificial Life ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Living System ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Time Interaction ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Interactive Installations

The authors design computer installations that integrate artificial life and real life by means of human-computer interaction. While exploring real-time interaction and evolutionary image processes, visitors to their interactive installations become essential parts of the systems by transferring the individual behaviors, emotions and personalities to the works' image processing. Images in these installations are not static, pre-fixed or predictable, but “living systems” themselves, representing minute changes in the viewers' interactions with the installations' evolutionary image processes.

scholarly journals REPLICATION AND EVOLUTION OF QUANTUM SPECIES

2004 ◽  
Vol 04 (03) ◽  
pp. R27-R38 ◽  
Author(s):  
ARUN K. PATI
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Information ◽  
Artificial Life ◽  
Biological Systems ◽  
Living System ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Closed Universe ◽  
Basic Features

We dwell upon the physicist's conception of 'life' since Schrödinger and Wigner through to the modern-day language of living systems in the light of quantum information. We discuss some basic features of a living system such as ordinary replication and evolution in terms of quantum bio-information. We also discuss the principle of no-culling of living replicas. We show that in a collection of identical species there can be no entanglement between one of the mutated copies and the rest of the species in a closed universe. Even though these discussions revolve around 'artificial life' they may still be applicable in real biological systems under suitable conditions.

scholarly journals Systèmes vivants : Lois locales et globales, invariance d'échelle

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 195-218
Author(s):  
Pierre Bricage
Keyword(s):  
Power Law ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Living System ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Duration Time ◽  
Constructal Law ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Qualitative Characteristics ◽  
Organizing Principles

To survive that is 'to eat and not to be eaten', to live on [9, 11]. Any living system [10], to survive and live on [9], whatever is its spatial [28] and temporal [23, 29, 35] level of organization, owns 7 invariant qualitative characteristics (degrees of freedom) [19]. Any alive system is formed by embedding and juxtapositions [17] of pre-existing systems [22]. How are the local quantitative laws, of their spatial-temporal structuring and functioning, associated with these qualitative characteristics independently from the dimensional scales? How are they independent/dependent from the new global level of organization and the local situations of emergence? How do the local actors become mutually integrated into their global whole? And reversely (systemic constructal law [4]), why and how is the global whole reciprocally integrating the local parceners [18, 20]? At every level of organization, the evolution of the living systems obeys 5 organizing principles of emergence [33] and the space (the volume of the adult system VA) and the duration (time of generation tg) are linked through a power law (generalized Kepler's 3rd law like VA2 = C.tg3), a law of growth (figure 3) and exchange (figure 4). As all the sub-systems which live in it, the whole Universe is living in an ecoexotope that it can share with other Universes.

Living Machines

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony J. Prescott ◽  
Paul F. M. J. Verschure
Keyword(s):  
Biological Systems ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Living System ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Novel Technologies ◽  
Biological Component

Biomimetics is the development of novel technologies through the distillation of principles from the study of biological systems. Biohybrid systems are formed by at least one biological component—an already existing living system—and at least one artificial, newly engineered component. The development of either biomimetic or biohybrid systems requires a deep understanding of the operation of living systems, and the two fields are united under the theme of “living machines”—the idea that we can construct artifacts that not only mimic life but share some of the same fundamental principles. This chapter sets out the philosophy and history underlying this Living Machines approach and sets the scene for the remainder of this book.

Use of Living Systems to Teach Basic Engineering Concepts

2010 ◽  
pp. 96-107
Author(s):  
Kauser Jahan ◽  
Jess W. Everett ◽  
Gina Tang ◽  
Stephanie Farrell ◽  
Hong Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Living System ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Cumberland County ◽  
Engineering Discipline ◽  
Rowan University ◽  
Rapid Dissemination ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Aquatic Sciences ◽  
Dynamic Website

Engineering educators have typically used non-living systems or products to demonstrate engineering principles. Each traditional engineering discipline has its own products or processes that they use to demonstrate concepts and principles relevant to the discipline. In recent years engineering education has undergone major changes with a drive to incorporate sustainability and green engineering concepts into the curriculum. As such an innovative initiative has been undertaken to use a living system such as an aquarium to teach basic engineering principles. Activities and course content were developed for a freshman engineering class at Rowan University and the Cumberland County College and K-12 outreach for the New Jersey Academy for Aquatic Sciences. All developed materials are available on a dynamic website for rapid dissemination and adoption.

scholarly journals What Does Artificial Life Tell Us About Death?

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Gershenson
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Life ◽  
Living System ◽  
Value Of Life ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Relationship

This paper discusses how concepts developed within artificial life (ALife) can help demystify the notion of death. This is relevant because sooner or later we will all die; death affects us all. Studying the properties of living systems independently of their substrate, ALife describes life as a type of organization. Thus, death entails the loss of that organization. Within this perspective, different notions of death are derived from different notions of life. Also, the relationship between life and mind and the implications of death to the mind are discussed. A criterium is proposed in which the value of life depends on its uniqueness, i.e. a living system is more valuable if it is harder to replace. However, this does not imply that death in replaceable living systems is unproblematic. This is decided on whether there is harm to the system produced by death. The paper concludes with speculations about how the notion of death could be shaped in the future.

The Organizing Principle of Complex Living Systems

1969 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 290-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Iberall ◽  
W. S. McCulloch
Keyword(s):  
Living System ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Homeostatic Regulation ◽  
Dynamic Character ◽  
Control Functions ◽  
Frequency Domains ◽  
System 2 ◽  
The Many ◽  
Active Processes ◽  
And Control

A scheme is outlined for a useful way to think about the complex biological organism, man. It is based on physiological findings that the regulating and control functions in the system make use of active processes, exhibiting oscillatory properties [1]. The resulting homeostatic regulation, which was the key concept proposed by Bernard, Sechenov, and Cannon for the living system [2], emerges from mediation of these oscillators. Because of its dynamic character, the scheme is renamed homeokinesis [3]. The concept may be extended to man’s behavioral complex. In outline, it touches on all the time or frequency domains in life—that is, of the many episodes in man.

Computational ideas developed within the control theory have limited relevance to control processes in living systems

2004 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark L. Latash ◽  
Anatol G. Feldman
Keyword(s):  
Control Theory ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Control Processes ◽  
Target Article

Exclusively focused on data that are consistent with the proposed ideas, the target article misses an opportunity to review data that are inconsistent with them. Weaknesses of the emulation theory become especially evident when one tries to incorporate physiologically realistic muscle and reflex mechanisms into it. In particular, it fails to resolve the basic posture-movement controversy.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document