A Novel Computing Paradigm

Where originally computing was nothing but adding and sorting, under the direct control of an insightful programmer, attention has shifted now to the much more general aspect of purposeful organization. Corrsepondingly, attention has now shifted overwhelmingly to the matrix of organization and communication in which the original algorithms may float like raisins in a cake. As to system development, attention has to massively shift from fixation on the insightful programmer to mechanisms of organization that rule institutions, companies and markets.

These developments are eroding the traditionally perceived sharp contrast between man-made computing devices and living structures. It is now becoming evident that the mechanisms responsible for the organization of living structures -- cells, multicellular organisms, brains, and even societies of organisms -- are to be adopted also in the technical domain. Living organisms are flexible, robust, well-coordinated, autonomous, evolvable and situation-aware, properties that are the envy of information technology.

The traditional computing paradigm is the Turing Machine. It is based on digital action, discrete mathematics and the algorithmic division of labor. Today, a novel computing paradigm is called for and it will have to be inspired by the living cell and the brain. Living organisms are analog in action, are to be treated as dynamic systems and contain all infrastructure necessary for their development, instead of depending on coupling to a separate thinking mind. We call this novel computing paradigm Organic Computing to emphasize both organic structure and complex, purposeful action.

Adoption of this novel computing paradigm will necessitate deep intellectual and indeed cultural and organizational adaptations The process is likely to take a decade or more. It is likely to gain its first foothold in a domain such as artificial perception in natural environments, natural language communication or autonomous robotics, which are not easily accessible in the context of the old computing paradigm and in which corporate investment levels are low.

Once the principles of Organic Computing are well understood, it will be possible to implement them in a Turing Machine or any universal computing device. Indeed the road there will be paved by experimentation in silico. Thus, the novel computing paradigm can be reduced to the old in principle. This, however, is a totally insignificant aspect, as the terms of the algorithmic division of labor will be fundamentally changed. The role of evolution and human involvement is, resp. will be, restricted to the provision of organizing principles, thus having only very indirect influence on individual processes. In the technical domain this will have profound consequences for the issue of hardware implementation.