Seeking the foundations of cognition in bacteria: From Schrödinger's negative entropy to latent information

Eshel Ben Jacob, Yoash Shapira and Alfred I. Tauber

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2006, vol. 359, issue C, 495-524

Abstract: We reexamine Schrödinger's reflections on the fundamental requirements for life in view of new observations about bacterial self-organization and the emerging understanding of gene-network regulation mechanisms and dynamics. Focusing on the energy, matter and thermodynamic imbalances provided by the environment, Schrödinger proposed his consumption of negative entropy requirement for life. We take the criteria further and propose that, besides “negative entropy”, organisms extract latent information embedded in the complexity of their environment.

Keywords: Biocomplexity; Latent information; Cognition; Bacterial intelligence; Gene-networks; Information processing; Self-organization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:359:y:2006:i:c:p:495-524

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2005.05.096

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