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Abstract biological systems as sequential machines: Behavioral reversibility

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Abstract

Rosen’s identification of abstract biological systems, called (M,R)-systems, with sequential machines is formally characterized. It is then shown that the determination of environmental alterations of (M,R)-systems from a knowledge of the response sequence and the structure of the system, which we call behavioral reversibility, can be interpreted as information-losslessness of sequential machines. Applying this relationship, necessary conditions for behavioral reversibility are derived. It is further shown that, similar to Rosen’s work on structural reversibility, (M,R)-systems are behaviorally reversible only if the number of physically realizable mappings are restricted.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Committee on Mathematical Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

    Lloyd A. Demetrius

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  1. Lloyd A. Demetrius
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Demetrius, L.A. Abstract biological systems as sequential machines: Behavioral reversibility. Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 28, 153–160 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02476989

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02476989

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