Abstract
The concept of the postdigital and current conceptions of the biodigital stem from an understanding of computer networks which itself has a history deriving from biology in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This chapter traces the historical development of modern conceptions of ‘network’ from Rashevsky, to McCulloch and Pitts, through to the creation of the Internet, and current thinking about neural networks and machine learning. In tracing this history, we question the soundness of some of the assumptions made about networked digital phenomena and their relation to biological and phenomenological processes. In contrast to the topological node-arc model of networks, we argue that networks arise from evolutionary biological processes which are fundamentally oriented around boundary preservation rather than ‘connection’. Cellular connections observed as networks can be seen as epiphenomena of these underlying processes, where for example, a cell will establish ‘connection’ as a means of maintaining its viability in an uncertain environment. Taking a boundary-preservation viewpoint allows for a homological analysis of similar processes from cells to selves. We illustrate two areas where this viewpoint might be operationalised: in communication dynamics and in institutional organisation. We argue this is a richer way of investigating biodigital phenomena, and opens the door to new technological experiments and alternative visions of a technological society.
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Notes
- 1.
In embryogenesis, ‘morula’ and ‘gastrula’ are stages of development. Initial cell division produces the morula, which is a ‘berry-like’ collection of cells. This then becomes ‘hollowed’ at the stage of the ‘blastula’, whose cavity then folds in on itself to form the three ‘germ layers’ of the gastrula. These three layers – called the ‘ectoderm’ (outer layer), ‘endoderm’ (inner layer), and ‘mesoderm’ (middle layer) serve as the source of cells for the skin and nervous system (ectoderm), the digestive and respiratory system (endoderm), and the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems (mesoderm).
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Johnson, M.W., Maitland, E., Torday, J., Fiedler, S.H.D. (2022). Reconceiving the Digital Network: From Cells to Selves. In: Peters, M.A., Jandrić, P., Hayes, S. (eds) Bioinformational Philosophy and Postdigital Knowledge Ecologies. Postdigital Science and Education . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95006-4_3
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