engleski

Cybernetic of Emerging Systems: Where Astrobiology Meets Neuroscience

Regardless of the frame of reference, evolutionary and co-evolutionary processes produced increasingly complex organisms struggling to survive and proliferate their own genetic material. Increases in structural and functional complexity of living organisms demanded development of a coordination-and-control apparatus. Emergence of neural apparatus facilitated development of physiological feedback mechanisms and enabled interaction of biotic systems with their environments resulting in them becoming proactive agents rather than passive subjects to environmental change. Quality of systemic control and coordination took the evolutionary edge away from the quality of structural design. Consequently, predicting a species' developmental and/or adaptive potential become a function of understanding its neural organization. Research methods in contemporary neuroscience allow observation of metabolic and physiological processes of the nervous system on a molecular level, while population genetic studies augmented with psychometric tests allow investigations of observable behavior. An existing anthropo-cybernetic model designed to simulate dynamics of complex anthropological phenomena was reconstructed into a neuro-cybernetic (NECY) model designed to simulate evolutionary and population dynamics of complex biotic systems. Research on the influence of genetic variation on expression of specific psychological traits and resulting behaviors promoted development of NECY- a research tool simulating population dynamics of agents within a complex biosocial environment. Congruity of up to 82% between the clinical and simulated data sets was achieved by the model. It provides a suitable means for understanding the complexity of emergent phenomena such as interaction between neuro-anatomical organization and behavior. NECY may be used as a predictive tool for investigations of evolutionary and population dynamics of biotic systems based on data describing their population size, environmental conditions, reproduction rates and physiological or biosocial organization. NECY's ability to model various levels of systemic and environmental complexity makes it an adaptive research tool applicable to a wide range of evolutionary scenarios astrobiologists may encounter in their research activities.

cybernetics; astrobiology; neuroscience

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