The Complexity of Biological Computers
- 1 September 1957
- journal article
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in IEEE Transactions on Electronic Computers
- Vol. EC-6 (3) , 192-194
- https://doi.org/10.1109/TEC.1957.5222020
Abstract
Man can handle small amounts of information in conscious purposeful activities. However, the concept of information processing is not limited to these; it applies equally to unconscious nervous control, and even to chemical control and coordination of metabolism. On this level, the amounts of information computed are enormous; man processes about 3×1024 bits per day just in the course of producing biochemical tools. The general pattern for these computations is laid down in a blueprint containing 105 to 109 bits of nonredundant information. Such numbers are characteristic of living things in general. These informational feats are performed with high over-all reliability in spite of frequently low precision Of single acts. This is accomplished by prodigious degrees of redundancy.Keywords
This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- The Problem of Information Transfer from the Nucleic Acids to ProteinsPublished by Elsevier ,1956