Title of article
Constancy, uniformity and symmetry of living systems: the computational functions of morphological invariance
Author/Authors
Avshalom C. Elitzur، نويسنده ,
Issue Information
روزنامه با شماره پیاپی سال 1997
Pages
13
From page
41
To page
53
Abstract
Living systems, whether organs or entire organisms, display various forms of morphological invariance. Why? These phenomena are studied here from the Proto-Cognitive perspective, according to which evolution proceeds by processing information about the environment. The evolution of constancy, uniformity and symmetry is studied in detail. The study later focuses on the invariances of the plantʹs leaves and it is proposed that these invariances play a crucial role in the plantʹs development of individual form. Experiments are proposed to test these hypotheses. Morphological invariance is further examined in the light of thermodynamics and information theory. New thermodynamic restrictions are imposed on the processes of measurement and information recording. Uniformity and symmetry are shown to meet these restrictions.
Keywords
Thermodynamics , Information , Morphological invariance , Symmetry , Computation
Journal title
BioSystems
Serial Year
1997
Journal title
BioSystems
Record number
497325
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