In order to be an information processing network (with emergent
properties), the members have to share information with each other,
directly or indirectly. Since red blood cells get oxygen from the lungs
and deliver it to cells via capillaries, it seems as though they do not
share information with each other. (e.g. they just get pumped around and
when the local density of oxygen is low, they shed it which sets in
motion a process for picking up the CO2). If one could prove that they
do share information with each other indirectly, e.g. via some more
sophisticated interaction with the capillaries or cells, or lungs than
just local density of O2, then you might have a case for a complex
adaptive system (CAS) or rather sub-system. Some might argue that the
red blood cells constitute a weakly coupled CAS because although the
densities of O2 and CO2 are "just" local knowledge, a CAS is based on
global effects (emergent properties) of local knowledge. The white
cells/ t-cells are another story. They appear to share substantial,
complex data about the nature of an invader, resulting in the rapid
generation of new cells needed to attack the invader. One could make a
case that these blood cells are more of a CAS. The body as a whole
clearly is a CAS - see even Kaufman's book for the basics on that. I
haven't read Holland's book yet, but the flow of the CAS literature
seems to me to be more or less in the direction I am suggesting.
Best regards,
joe
Marco Cicchini wrote:
>
> Dear all,
>
> I am just an undergraduate student in Engineering and I have been readin'
> something about emrgence. (John Holland's book). I am wondering where is the
> edge between Multi Agent Systems and an Information Processor.
>
> Has anybody done any work about this? Why one million red cells "are not" an
> Information Processing network? Is it all about the kind of inputs to the
> system/things to which the agents react? Is it due to some structural
> diffecerence of the agents?
>
> I thank in advance anyone who will help me,
>
> Regards,
>
> Marco Cicchini
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Dr. Joseph Mitola III
Consulting Scientist
The MITRE Corporation
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