Cybernetics and Development
International Series of Monographs in Pure and Applied Biology: Zoology
- 1st Edition - January 1, 1966
- Imprint: Pergamon
- Author: Michael J. Apter
- Editor: G. A. Kerkut
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN:9 7 8 - 1 - 4 8 3 1 - 2 2 6 9 - 4
- Hardback ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 0 8 - 0 1 1 4 3 1 - 6
- eBook ISBN:9 7 8 - 1 - 4 8 3 1 - 5 5 1 1 - 1
Cybernetics and Development deals with the ways in which growing and developing biological systems control themselves during development. It is a preliminary attempt to apply some… Read more
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Request a sales quoteCybernetics and Development deals with the ways in which growing and developing biological systems control themselves during development. It is a preliminary attempt to apply some of the insights and techniques of cybernetics to the problem of understanding such development and its control. The book begins with a discussion of the nature of cybernetics and its methods. Separate chapters cover the use of cybernetics in the field of biological development; previous work in the area of cybernetics related to automata theory; and the application of information theory to development. Subsequent chapters present models of development. These include computer programs which continually replicate themselves and control the resulting development; growing automata nets as models of development; and a method that allows a system to control the relative sizes of its parts during development and afterwards during regeneration. This book provides enough background material to make it understandable both to the biologist with little knowledge of cybernetics and the cybernetician with no great knowledge of developmental biology.
Preface
1. The Cybernetic Approach
Introduction
The Nature of Cybernetics
Criticisms of Cybernetics
References
2. The Problems of Development
The Relevance of Cybernetics
Background in Biology
An Axiomatization of Development
Some Basic Problems
References
3. Cybernetics and Development
Cybernetic Models of Development
Models of Self-Reproduction
Evolution, Learning, and Development
References
4. Information Theory and Development
Amount of Information in the Organism
Changes in Information Content during Development
Preformation and Epigenesis
General Discussion
References
5. Development on the Computer
Programming Development
Some Basic Models
Towards Greater Complexity
References
6. Growing Automata Nets
Design for a Zygote
Some Algorithms for Development
The Nucleus and Its Environments
References
7. The Control of Pattern
A Model of Pattern Control
A Genetic Interpretation of the Model
References
8. Discussion
Self-Reference in Development
Development into Complexity
Possibilities for Further Research
Concluding Remarks
References
Appendix
1. National-Elliott 803 Instruction Code
2. Information Theory
References
3. Turing Machines
References
4. The Jacob and Monod Work
References
Index
- Edition: 1
- Published: January 1, 1966
- No. of pages (eBook): 200
- Imprint: Pergamon
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN: 9781483122694
- Hardback ISBN: 9780080114316
- eBook ISBN: 9781483155111
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