Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
3.5
2.4
Journals
Mathematics
Special Issues
Non-algorithmic Mathematical Models of Biological Organization
share announcement

Non-algorithmic Mathematical Models of Biological Organization

A special issue of Mathematics (ISSN 2227-7390). This special issue belongs to the section "Mathematical Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 4088

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Sergio Rubin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Georges Lamaitre Center for Earth and Climate Research, Earth and Life Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, B-1348 Louvain, Belgium
Interests: morphogenesis, mathematics of open systems; category theory; halting problem; structural stability; catastrophe theory

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Understanding the biological organization from non-algorithmic mathematical models is one of the most important fields in mathematical biology. However, biological thinking in this century witnessed the overwhelming use of the algorithmic and syntactic mathematics, that cannot deal with the autopoietic self-referential organization of living systems. Algorithmic simulations not only misplaced the mathematical foundations of biology and its diverse areas such as genetics, cell biology, immunology, neurobiology, ecology, evolution, earth system and cognitive science, but also fostered the computational tool as the only method to encoding biological causality.

What is evident, even from the most basic process at the molecular level, is that algorithmic and computational biology is limited to explain processes and forms of living system such as, for example, the ‘protein-folding problem’. Therefore, if difficulties are already encountered at this level, it is to be expected that cellular, ecological or cognitive processes are even more distant from having algorithmic referents.

Therefore, in order to address the multiple scales and realizations of living systems autopoietic organization, it is necessary to develop or extend the comprehension of non-algorithmic mathematical models such as the (M,R)-system that on the one hand incorporate the right expression of causality for biological organization and on the other hand leverage both the increasing modelling power of category theory, calculus of indications or algebraic biology.

We welcome articles, reviews, communications, hypothesis, essays and opinions that aim to advance the use of the (M,R)-system and other non-algorithmic mathematical models in the understanding of the causality of biological systems organization involving self-fabrication -autopoiesis- and hence cognition, autonomy and anticipation and the fundamental differences with respect of artificial systems and non-biological systems. We welcome articles related to any of these topics:

  • Categorical and indicational models of the causality of biological organization;
  • Modelling relation between autopoietic and (M,R)-systems;
  • Formal and causal differences of biological and non-biological systems;
  • Cognition, autonomy, anticipation and self-reference in the causal organization of biological systems;
  • Scales of realization or instantiation of autopoietic and (M,R)-systems;
  • Novel non-algorithmic mathematical methods to study biological organization.

Dr. Sergio Rubin
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Mathematics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • non-algorithmic mathematical models
  • causal organization
  • biological and non-biological systems
  • (M,R)-systems
  • autopoiesis
  • category theory
  • calculus of indications, algebraic biology, self-reference

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Other

9 pages, 299 KiB  
Opinion
Robert Rosen’s Anticipatory Systems Theory: The Science of Life and Mind
by Judith Rosen
Mathematics 2022, 10(22), 4172; https://doi.org/10.3390/math10224172 - 08 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3233
Abstract
When I am at conferences, talking about the scientific work of my father (theoretical biologist Robert Rosen, 1934–1998), I am often asked which aspects of his work I think are most important. My answer is Anticipatory Systems Theory. It’s about the entailment and [...] Read more.
When I am at conferences, talking about the scientific work of my father (theoretical biologist Robert Rosen, 1934–1998), I am often asked which aspects of his work I think are most important. My answer is Anticipatory Systems Theory. It’s about the entailment and characterization of both life and mind. It explains the fundamental nature of all life, showing how the human mind is an evolutionary concentration of the same peculiar behavior patterns manifested by all living organisms, regardless of species. How can we hope to fully understand ourselves or anything else in the biosphere of Earth without an accurate scientific comprehension of the entailment patterns underlying and generating all of it? The physics of orbital mechanics or atomic particles is insufficient for this. Therefore, I spend a lot of my time working to make the meaning of my father’s scientific discoveries accessible to as many human minds as possible. I think humanity is going to need this work in the future, and already needs it now. This paper will examine the basic premises of Anticipatory Systems Theory and describe, using examples familiar to all of us from daily life, how we can recognize Anticipation at work in ourselves and in local ecosystems all over the planet. I will conclude with some important ramifications of this theory, including how Anticipation necessarily plays into evolutionary processes. I will also point out the vulnerabilities of Anticipatory Systems (i.e., living organisms) to rapid change in environment, potentially leading to extinction cascades. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Non-algorithmic Mathematical Models of Biological Organization)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-1
Back to TopTop