2. UNIT-1
UNIT I - INTRODUCTION: From Nature to Nature Computing , Philosophy , Three
Branches: A Brief Overview, Individuals, Entities and agents - Parallelism and Distributivity
Interactivity, Adaptation- Feedback-Self-Organization-Complexity, Emergence and, Bottom-up Vs TopDown-
Determination, Chaos and Fractals
• During the early days of humanity natural resources were used to provide shelter and food.
• We soon learned to modify and manage nature so as to breed crops and animals, build artifacts, control
fire, etc.
• Humsns then started to observe and study biological, chemical, and physical phenomena and patterns in
order to better understand and explain how nature works.
• As examples, by learning about the physical laws of motion and gravity it became possible to design
aircrafts; and by understanding some basic principles of life it is now possible to manage nature in various
levels, from the creation of transgenic food to the control of diseases.
3. • With the advent of computers, the way human beings interact with nature changed
drastically.
• Nature is now being used as a source of inspiration or metaphor for the development of
new techniques for solving complex problems in various domains, from engineering to
biology.
• Computers can simulate and emulate biological life and processes; and new material and
means with which to compute are currently being investigated.
• Natural computing is the terminology introduced to encompass these three types of
approaches, named, respectively:
• 1) computing inspired by nature;
• 2) the simulation and emulation of natural phenomena in computers
• 3) computing with natural materials.
4. 1.1.1. Motivation
Why should we study natural computing and why should research in this broad area be
supported?
There are many reasons for doing so; from the engineering of new computational tools for
solving complex problems whose solutions are so far unavailable or unsatisfactory;
Although still very young in most of its forms, the many products of natural computing are
already available in various forms nowadays, in washing machines, trains, toys, air
conditioning devices, motion pictures, inside computers as virtual life, and so forth.
To the design of systems presenting nature-like patterns, behaviors and even the design of new
forms of life; and finally to the possibility of developing and using new technologies for
computing (new computing paradigms).
5. Natural computing is the computational version of this process
of extracting ideas from nature to develop „artificial‟
(computational) systems, or using natural media (e.g.,
molecules) to perform computation. The word artificial here
means only that the systems developed are human-made
instead of made by nature. While not the rule, in some cases,
the products of natural computing may turn out to be so life-
like that it becomes difficult to tell them apart from natural
phenomena.Natural phenomena (e.g., processes, substances,
organisms, etc.) have long inspired and motivated people to
mimic, design, and build novel systems and artifacts. For many
centuries, the observation of the natural world has allowed
people to devise theories about how nature works.
Natural phenomena (e.g., processes, substances, organisms,
etc.) have long inspired and
motivated people to mimic, design, and build novel systems
and artifacts. For many centuries,
the observation of the natural world has allowed people to
devise theories about how nature
works.
6. Natural computing can be divided into three main branches 1)
Computing inspired by nature: it makes use of nature as
inspiration for the development of problem solving techniques.
The main idea of this branch is to develop computational tools
(algorithms) by taking inspiration from nature for the solution
of complex problems. 2) The simulation and emulation of
nature by means of computing: it is basically a synthetic
process aimed at creating patterns, forms, behaviors, and
organisms that (do not necessarily) resemble „life-as-we-know-
it‟. Its products can be used to mimic various natural
phenomena, thus increasing our understanding of nature and
insights about computer models. 3) Computing with natural
materials: it corresponds to the use of natural materials to
perform computation, thus constituting a true novel computing
paradigm that comes to substitute or supplement the current
siliconbased computers.
