Bioinformational Philosophy and Postdigital Knowledge Ecologies
Bioinformational Philosophy and Postdigital Knowledge Ecologies
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生物信息哲学与后数字知识生态
DOI：
10.1007/978-3-030-95006-4
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发表时间：
2023
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
L. Gourlay
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
L. Gourlay
后数字化的概念和当前生物数字化的概念源于对计算机网络的理解，而计算机网络本身就有源自十九世纪末和二十世纪初生物学的历史。本章追溯了现代“网络”概念的历史发展，从拉舍夫斯基到麦卡洛克和皮茨，再到互联网的创建，以及当前关于神经网络和机器学习的思考。在追溯这段历史的过程中，我们质疑一些关于网络数字现象及其与生物和现象学过程的关系的假设的合理性。与网络的拓扑节点弧模型相反，我们认为网络源于进化生物过程，这些过程从根本上讲是围绕边界保护而不是“连接”。作为网络观察到的细胞连接可以被视为这些潜在过程的副现象，例如，细胞将建立“连接”作为在不确定的环境中维持其生存能力的手段。采用边界保护的观点可以对从细胞到自身的相似过程进行同源分析。我们阐述了这一观点可能得以实施的两个领域：沟通动态和机构组织。我们认为这是研究生物数字现象的一种更丰富的方式，并为新技术实验和技术社会的替代愿景打开了大门。
The concept of the postdigital and current conceptions of the biodigital stem from an understanding of computer networks which itself has a history deriving from biology in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This chapter traces the historical development of modern conceptions of ‘network’ from Rashevsky, to McCulloch and Pitts, through to the creation of the Internet, and current thinking about neural networks and machine learning. In tracing this history, we question the soundness of some of the assumptions made about networked digital phenomena and their relation to biological and phenomenological processes. In contrast to the topological node-arc model of networks, we argue that networks arise from evolutionary biological processes which are fundamentally oriented around boundary preservation rather than ‘connection’. Cellular connections observed as networks can be seen as epiphenomena of these underlying processes, where for example, a cell will establish ‘connection’ as a means of maintaining its viability in an uncertain environment. Taking a boundary-preservation viewpoint allows for a homological analysis of similar processes from cells to selves. We illustrate two areas where this viewpoint might be operationalised: in communication dynamics and in institutional organisation. We argue this is a richer way of investigating biodigital phenomena, and opens the door to new technological experiments and alternative visions of a technological society.