Towards Autopoietic Computing

TL;DR

This paper reviews autopoiesis, a biological theory of self-organization and self-maintenance, exploring its potential application to creating scalable, robust computing systems inspired by biological processes.

Contribution

It provides a conceptual review linking autopoiesis to computation, aiming to develop a formal theory of autopoietic computing for complex system management.

Findings

Highlights properties of autopoiesis relevant to computing

Connects biological self-organization to computational theories

Lays groundwork for formal autopoietic computing models

Abstract

A key challenge in modern computing is to develop systems that address complex, dynamic problems in a scalable and efficient way, because the increasing complexity of software makes designing and maintaining efficient and flexible systems increasingly difficult. Biological systems are thought to possess robust, scalable processing paradigms that can automatically manage complex, dynamic problem spaces, possessing several properties that may be useful in computer systems. The biological properties of self-organisation, self-replication, self-management, and scalability are addressed in an interesting way by autopoiesis, a descriptive theory of the cell founded on the concept of a system's circular organisation to define its boundary with its environment. In this paper, therefore, we review the main concepts of autopoiesis and then discuss how they could be related to fundamental concepts and theories of computation. The paper is conceptual in nature and the emphasis is on the review of other people's work in this area as part of a longer-term strategy to develop a formal theory of autopoietic computing.