Start here.
Biological computing uses living systems as part of an information-processing device. Neural cultures can respond to inputs and change their activity with feedback. Performance on a task is a measurable result; personal consciousness is a different question.
A useful analogy—and its limit
A system can improve its score on a game without showing that it understands a life story. “Learning” must be tied to the particular task and control conditions.
What to look for in a paper.
Look for task definitions, controls, repeatability, useful lifetime and the cost of the complete support system. Compare equivalent tasks before making energy-efficiency claims.
The vocabulary.
- Reservoir computing
- Using a system’s changing internal responses as features for a readout.
- Closed loop
- A system in which measured outputs affect later inputs.
- Benchmark
- A defined test used to compare performance.