2nd Workshop on Computing and Communications from Biological Systems: Theory and Applications

Research Article

Why Noise and Fluctuations Can Make Life Simpler

  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/ICST.BIONETICS2008.4720,
        author={Ferdinand Peper},
        title={Why Noise and Fluctuations Can Make Life Simpler},
        proceedings={2nd Workshop on Computing and Communications from Biological Systems: Theory and Applications},
        publisher={ACM},
        proceedings_a={CCBS},
        year={2010},
        month={5},
        keywords={Noise Fluctuations Nanoelectronics Molecular motors},
        doi={10.4108/ICST.BIONETICS2008.4720}
    }
    
  • Ferdinand Peper
    Year: 2010
    Why Noise and Fluctuations Can Make Life Simpler
    CCBS
    ICST
    DOI: 10.4108/ICST.BIONETICS2008.4720
Ferdinand Peper1,*
  • 1: Nano ICT Group, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Kobe, Japan Tel. +81-78-969-2161
*Contact email: peper@nict.go.jp

Abstract

Noise and Fluctuations are usually considered obstacles in the operation of electronic and mechanical devices, and most strategies to deal with them aim to maximize the Signal/Noise ratio. This presentation gives a short overview of systems that follow a different scenario: such systems exploit noise and fluctuations in order to improve their efficiency of operation. A key element in these systems is the ability of noise and fluctuation to work as a stochastic search process that is able to explore a solution space and settle on a suitable solution. The attraction of this strategy is that it simplifies the mechanisms required to accomplish a task. This presentation reviews an example in computation and speculates about the likely use of this strategy in biological organisms.