A computable expression of closure to efficient causation

JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL BIOLOGY

卷:257

Article

Mossio, Matteo^1,2  Longo, Giuseppe³  Stewart, John⁴ 

[1] Univ Paris 01, Inst Hist & Philosophie Sci & Tech, CNRS, ENS, F-75006 Paris, France

[2] Univ Basque Country, Dept Log & Philosophy Sci, San Sebastian 20018, Spain

[3] Ecole Normale Super, CNRS, Lab Informat, F-75005 Paris, France

[4] Univ Technol Compiegne, COSTECH, Ctr Pierre Guillaumat, F-60206 Compiegne, France

关键词: Closure to efficient causation;    lambda-calculus;    Computability;    Impredicativity;    (M, R) systems;    Robert Rosen;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jtbi.2008.12.012

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

In this paper, we propose a mathematical expression of closure to efficient causation in terms of lambda-calculus; we argue that this opens up the perspective of developing principled computer simulations of systems closed to efficient causation in an appropriate programming language. An important implication of our formulation is that, by exhibiting an expression in lambda-calculus, which is a paradigmatic formalism for computability and programming, we show that there are no conceptual or principled problems in realizing a computer simulation or model of closure to efficient causation. We conclude with a brief discussion of the question whether closure to efficient causation captures all relevant properties of living systems. We suggest that it might not be the case, and that more complex definitions could indeed create crucial some obstacles to computability. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free