Book Review
Reviewed by Andrew Adamatzky
Orchestrated Biocomputation: Unravelling the Mystery of Slime Mould “Intelligence”
by Richard Mayne
Luniver Press, UK, 2016, 238 pp.
ISBN-10: 1905986491
ISBN-13: 978-1905986491
“Orchestrated biocomputation: unravelling the mystery of slime mould ‘intelligence’” by Richard Mayne comprises a work on unconventional computing that addresses the computational nature of biological intelligence towards harnessing it for demonstrably practical purposes.
Through a comprehensive series of experiments, the author demonstrates the degree to which a given model organism, the single-celled slime mould Physarum polycephalum, is able to exhibit computational polymorphism and polyfunctionality. The conclusions made argue that, although the characteristics of slime mould impose certain restrictions on its (admittedly broad) range of practical applications as an unconventional computing substrate, certain ubiquitous aspects of biology are rich computing resources whose potential applications are varied and exciting…