Stan Williams
Imitation of Life successfully presents the case that for the first time in history, we are able to engineer machines that can both borrow designs from the complexity of life, through computer science, and implement the algorithms of life, through nanotechnology
Endorsement
Imitation of Life successfully presents the case that for the first time in history, we are able to engineer machines that can both borrow designs from the complexity of life, through computer science, and implement the algorithms of life, through nanotechnology
—
Stan Williams, Senior Fellow, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
From the Publisher
The analogies between computers and biological organisms have often been overstated, so I approached this book with modest expectations. I was pleased to find that it was often cautious and moderate, even as it described claims enthusiastically promoted by others. Forbes should be congratulated for presenting the case for 'bio-inspired computing' in a way that will make the controversies it evokes accessible to a very broad audience.
—
Joshua Lederberg, Professor Emeritus, Rockefeller University, 1958 Nobel Laureate in Medicine
Computer engineering and biology have so much to say to each other; Nancy Forbes catalyzes this conversation and let's us listen in via her engaging style. This book will appeal to technophiles, interdisciplinarians, and broad thinkers of all stripes.
—
George M. Church, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School
How does our brain do such exquisitely complex things with such slow and unreliable components? Are there lessons here for building more capable and robust computers? Nancy Forbes gathers evidence from a wide variety of fields, providing a lively and accessible survey of what we know and don't know about these questions.
—
Wm. A. Wulf, President, National Academy of Engineering
Imitation of Life successfully presents the case that for the first time in history, we are able to engineer machines that can both borrow designs from the complexity of life, through computer science, and implement the algorithms of life, through nanotechnology
—
Stan Williams, Senior Fellow, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
Wm. A. Wulf
How does our brain do such exquisitely complex things with such slow and unreliable components? Are there lessons here for building more capable and robust computers? Nancy Forbes gathers evidence from a wide variety of fields, providing a lively and accessible survey of what we know and don't know about these questions.
Joshua Lederberg
The analogies between computers and biological organisms have often been overstated, so I approached this book with modest expectations. I was pleased to find that it was often cautious and moderate, even as it described claims enthusiastically promoted by others. Forbes should be congratulated for presenting the case for 'bio-inspired computing' in a way that will make the controversies it evokes accessible to a very broad audience.
George M. Church
Computer engineering and biology have so much to say to each other; Nancy Forbes catalyzes this conversation and let's us listen in via her engaging style. This book will appeal to technophiles, interdisciplinarians, and broad thinkers of all stripes.
