the paradigm that nature has been computing all along
forests compute nutrient allocation through mycorrhizal networks
brains compute through parallel firing of billions of neurons
immune systems compute pathogen responses through local cell interactions
shared properties that traditional computation lacks
- inherent parallelism: every component processes simultaneously
- emergent behavior: complex global patterns from simple local rules
- self-organization: structure forms without external direction
- convergence: systems settle into stable states rather than deriving conclusions from axioms
cyber formalizes these principles with the same rigor Turing brought to symbol manipulation
the tri-kernel (diffusion, springs, heat kernel) maps directly to natural processes
- diffusion: gas wandering, synaptic chatter, species dispersal
- springs: elastic lattice, skeleton, food webs
- heat: thermostat, metabolism, seasons
see convergent computation for the formal foundation
see future of computation for the full article
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