Biological/DNA ComputingYour thoughts?

[StarkyDee]

Here is the future of computing whether you like it or not! Here is a site that gives a great summary of what is in the future for computers. After reading this I would like to hear your comments on the topic..I hope this thread will become a real kicker))

http://www.uhisrc.com/FTB/BioComputing/FTBBioComp.pdf

 

[nic0mac]

From the way I see it biological computing makes sense when you are doing large scale problems repetitivly like genetic/biological testing but otherwise it becomes problematic. You cannot change the programing easily, it doesn't use a "neat" power source (electricity vs. ?) and as I understand it it is not reusable really but more of a one use thing. It may replace some electronics but I don't see how it is a viable option for replaceing the pc.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I recently read an article in the Fortean Times that may suggest that there would be trouble with memory as well. The article briefly discussed a study recently run on human memory that showed our old memories that are not often accessed tend to become corrupted and our brains alter them as we attepmt to fill in the lost information upon accessing them again. So as far as memory is concerned a biological medium may be to dynamic to retain information reliably unless you want to write and rewrite genetic coding for the purpose of information storage and even then who knows.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

So I have finished reading that paper. Thinking about it I probably should have done so first before commenting, or at least that would have been more logical. It's very interesting what they are doing and it seems like the medical aplication is it's best market. I don't see though how they can overcome the non-reusable aspect without creating a living processor such as the Donovans Brain scenario that was discussed. Even then though I think there would still be trouble with the expiration and corruption of the biological matter. At the same time in support of the idea I have always thought that organic machines would be far superior to nuts and bolts.