Cell biology related to distributed computing

Fri, 13 Jun 2003 11:07:00 -0400
/technology

Something ingenious I missed the first time via, uh, Sam Ruby.

If you sort biological organisms by size, you will see a point at which the strategy shifts from making larger cells to making more cells. Cells are surrounded by a trust boundary. Cells communicate by two basic mechanisms.
In the first mechanism, the sender determines the action to be taken. The request penetrates the membrane and then employs the machinery within the cell to execute per the instructions contained within the message.

In the second mechanism, the receiver determines the action to be taken. The request matches a receptacle on the membrane and the cell uses this information to trigger biological processes.

In biological terms, the agent of the first mechanism is called a virus, and the agent of the second mechanism is called a hormone. In larger organisms, there is a strong preference for the second mechanism.