When Does a Slime Mould Compute?
Thursday, July 24, 2014, 1-2 p.m.
EN-2022
Department of Computer Science
Speaker: Professor Susan Stepney, University of York, U.K. Abstract: Some people are using billiard balls, chemicals, bacteria, slime moulds, soap films, spaghetti, even black holes, as computers (although some of these only in theory yet). But what does it mean for such unconventional substrates to compute? I will introduce our framework for physical computing, give requirements for physical system to be used as a computer, and show how some unconventional substrates are indeed computing, and how others are not.