Human interaction with the world is dominated by uncertainty. Probability theory is a valuable tool to face such uncertainty. According to the Bayesian definition, probabilities are personal beliefs. ...Experimental evidence supports the notion that human behavior is highly consistent with Bayesian probabilistic inference in both the sensory and motor and cognitive domain. All the higher-level psychophysical functions of our brain are believed to take the activities of interconnected and distributed networks of neurons in the neocortex as their physiological substrate. Neurons in the neocortex are organized in cortical columns that behave as fuzzy sets. Fuzzy sets theory has embraced uncertainty modeling when membership functions have been reinterpreted as possibility distributions. The terms of Bayes' formula are conceivable as fuzzy sets and Bayes' inference becomes a fuzzy inference. According to the QBism, quantum probabilities are also Bayesian. They are logical constructs rather than physical realities. It derives that the Born rule is nothing but a kind of Quantum Law of Total Probability. Wavefunctions and measurement operators are viewed epistemically. Both of them are similar to fuzzy sets. The new link that is established between fuzzy logic, neuroscience, and quantum mechanics through Bayesian probability could spark new ideas for the development of artificial intelligence and unconventional computing.
Scientists want to comprehend and control complex systems. Their success depends on the ability to face also the challenges of the corresponding computational complexity. A promising research line is ...artificial intelligence (AI). In AI, fuzzy logic plays a significant role because it is a suitable model of the human capability to compute with words, which is relevant when we make decisions in complex situations. The concept of fuzzy set pervades the natural information systems (NISs), such as living cells, the immune and the nervous systems. This paper describes the fuzziness of the NISs, in particular of the human nervous system. Moreover, it traces three pathways to process fuzzy logic by molecules and their assemblies. The fuzziness of the molecular world is useful for the development of the chemical artificial intelligence (CAI). CAI will help to face the challenges that regard both the natural and the computational complexity.
This work highlights the relevant contribution of conformational stereoisomers to the complexity and functions of any molecular compound. Conformers have the same molecular and structural formulas ...but different orientations of the atoms in the three-dimensional space. Moving from one conformer to another is possible without breaking covalent bonds. The interconversion is usually feasible through the thermal energy available in ordinary conditions. The behavior of most biopolymers, such as enzymes, antibodies, RNA, and DNA, is understandable if we consider that each exists as an ensemble of conformers. Each conformational collection confers multi-functionality and adaptability to the single biopolymers. The conformational distribution of any biopolymer has the features of a fuzzy set. Hence, every compound that exists as an ensemble of conformers allows the molecular implementation of a fuzzy set. Since proteins, DNA, and RNA work as fuzzy sets, it is fair to say that life's logic is fuzzy. The power of processing fuzzy logic makes living beings capable of swift decisions in environments dominated by uncertainty and vagueness. These performances can be implemented in chemical robots, which are confined molecular assemblies mimicking unicellular organisms: they are supposed to help humans "colonise" the molecular world to defeat diseases in living beings and fight pollution in the environment.
Light and chemical oscillations: Review and perspectives Gentili, Pier Luigi; Micheau, Jean-Claude
Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. C, Photochemistry reviews,
June 2020, 2020-06-00, 2020-06, Letnik:
43
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Display omitted
•UV-visible radiation can originate chemical oscillations.•UV-visible radiation can track hydrodynamics of fluids.•UV-visible radiation can synchronize chemical ...oscillators.•UV-visible radiation can affect chemical waves and Turing patterns.•Photo-controlled chemical waves and oscillations within gels.
When UV–vis radiation interacts with matter, it can play as either a pump, or a developer, or a signal. In this paper, we show that when UV–vis radiation interacts with very-far-from-equilibrium systems, it can exert its threefold role. It can originate oscillations when it works as a pump. It can track the hydrodynamics of fluids by inducing fluorescence or colour formation of specific probes when it works as a developer. Finally, it can affect spontaneous chemical oscillations, chemical waves, Turing patterns, and promote synchronization phenomena when it works as a signal. A cross-disciplinary analysis of many experiments shows that the interplay between UV–vis radiation and very-far-from-equilibrium systems has promising technological applications. Such interaction can be exploited to control the morphology of materials, implement chemical systems for computing, and promote soft robotics. Since dissipative chemical systems exhibit life-like functionalities, this work can be inspirational for those researchers engaged in the study of the origin of life where spontaneous phenomena of self-organization induced by light are relevant.
The potential role of bottom-up Synthetic Cells (SCs) in the Internet of Bio-Nano Things (IoBNT) is discussed. In particular, this perspective paper focuses on the growing interest in networks of ...biological and/or artificial objects at the micro- and nanoscale (cells and subcellular parts, microelectrodes, microvessels, etc.), whereby communication takes place in an unconventional manner, i.e., via chemical signaling. The resulting "molecular communication" (MC) scenario paves the way to the development of innovative technologies that have the potential to impact biotechnology, nanomedicine, and related fields. The scenario that relies on the interconnection of natural and artificial entities is briefly introduced, highlighting how Synthetic Biology (SB) plays a central role. SB allows the construction of various types of SCs that can be designed, tailored, and programmed according to specific predefined requirements. In particular, "bottom-up" SCs are briefly described by commenting on the principles of their design and fabrication and their features (in particular, the capacity to exchange chemicals with other SCs or with natural biological cells). Although bottom-up SCs still have low complexity and thus basic functionalities, here, we introduce their potential role in the IoBNT. This perspective paper aims to stimulate interest in and discussion on the presented topics. The article also includes commentaries on MC, semantic information, minimal cognition, wetware neuromorphic engineering, and chemical social robotics, with the specific potential they can bring to the IoBNT.
Chemical Artificial Intelligence (CAI) is a brand-new research line that exploits molecular, supramolecular, and systems chemistry in
wetware
(i.e., in fluid solutions) to imitate some performances ...of human intelligence and promote unconventional robotics based on molecular assemblies, which act in the microscopic world, otherwise tough to be accessed by humans. It is undoubtedly worth spreading the news that AI researchers can rely on the help of chemists and biotechnologists to reach the ambitious goals of building intelligent systems from scratch. This article reports the first attempt at building a Chemical Artificial Intelligence knowledge map and describes the basic intelligent functions that can be implemented through molecular and supramolecular chemistry. Chemical Artificial Intelligence provides new tools and concepts to mimic human intelligence because it shares, with biological intelligence, the same principles and materials. It enables peculiar dynamics, possibly not accessible in software and hardware domains. Moreover, the development of Chemical Artificial Intelligence will contribute to a deeper understanding of the strict link between intelligence and life, which are two of the most remarkable emergent properties shown by the Complex Systems we call biological organisms.
Inspired by some traits of human intelligence, it is proposed that
wetware
approaches based on molecular, supramolecular, and systems chemistry can provide valuable models and tools for novel forms ...of robotics and AI, being constituted by soft matter and fluid states as the human nervous system and, more generally, life, is. Bottom-up mimicries of intelligence range from the molecular world to the multicellular level, i.e., from the Ångström (
10
−
10
meters) to the micrometer scales (
10
−
6
meters), and allows the development of unconventional chemical robotics. Whereas conventional robotics lets humans explore and colonise otherwise inaccessible environments, such as the deep oceanic abysses and other solar system planets, chemical robots will permit us to inspect and control the microscopic molecular and cellular worlds. This article suggests that systems made of properly chosen molecular compounds can implement all those modules that are the fundamental ingredients of every living being: sensory, processing, actuating, and metabolic networks. Autonomous chemical robotics will be within reach when such modules are compartmentalised and assembled. The design of a strongly intertwined web of chemical robots, with or without the involvement of living matter, will give rise to collective forms of intelligence that will probably reproduce, on a minimal scale, some sophisticated performances of the human intellect and will implement forms of “general AI.” These remarkable achievements will require a productive interdisciplinary collaboration among chemists, biotechnologists, computer scientists, engineers, physicists, neuroscientists, cognitive scientists, and philosophers to be achieved. The principal purpose of this paper is to spark this revolutionary collaborative scientific endeavour.
Photochromic compounds are employed in implementing neuron surrogates. They will boost the development of neuromorphic engineering in wetware. In this work, the photochromic behaviours of ...(E)-3,4,6-trichloro-2-(
-diazenil)-phenol (
) and its conjugated phenoxide base (
) have been investigated experimentally in three different media: (1) pure acetonitrile, (2) in water and acetonitrile mixed in a 1/1 volume ratio, and (3) in an aqueous micellar solution of 3-(
,
-Dimethylmyristylammonio)propanesulfonate (SB3-14). The analysis of the spectral and kinetic features of
and
has been supported by quantum-mechanical DFT calculations, the maximum entropy method, and the determination of their colourability (C). The versatility of
and
makes them promising molecular probes of micro-environments and potential ingredients of photochemical oscillators required for implementing pacemaker neurons capable of communicating through optical signals in wetware.
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