ULTIMATE COMPUTING - Quantum Consciousness Studies

Models of Cytoskeletal Computing 163
8.2.5 Cytoskeletal String Processors/Barnett
Figure 8.2: Barnett’s string processor model of microtubule-neurofilament
memory storage. 1) a processing channel (microtubule-MT) is laterally connected
to a parallel storage unit (neurofilament-NF), 2) information traverses the
processing channel from right to left; on the storage channel, synonym pairs
move from left to right, 3) as the word “chips” moves by its own self in storage, it
is deleted, 4) “chips” is replaced by its synonym “french fries” and 5) the
replacement is complete. By Paul Jablonka.
Brooklyn College computer and information scientist Michael P. Barnett has
pursued the design of computer components suited to molecular scale devices. In
addition to the development of tiny binary switches to be assembled into circuits
on digital architecture, Barnett (1987) has also sought an associative memory
which can analyze imprecise analog data as well as conventional digital
information. Fabricated systems with these features could be versatile, powerful
and a boon to the goals of artificial intelligence. Like many AI oriented
researchers, Barnett turned to biology for clues. However, unlike most Al