Biological Information as Natural Computation

Abstract

The dynamics of natural systems, and particularly organic systems, specialized in self-organization and complexity management, presents a vast source of ideas for new approaches to computing, such as natural computing and its special case organic computing. Based on paninformationalism (understanding of all physical structures as informational) and pancomputationalism or natural computationalism (understanding of the dynamics of physical structures as computation) a new approach of info-computational naturalism emerges as a result of their synthesis. This includes naturalistic view of mind and hence naturalized epistemology based on evolution from inanimate to biological systems through the increase in complexity of informational structures by natural computation. Learning on the info-computational level about structures and processes in nature and especially those in intelligent and autonomous biological agents enables the development of advanced autonomous adaptive intelligent artifacts and makes possible connection (both theoretical and practical) between organic and inorganic systems.