num_pages: 280
description: How does a single-cell creature such as an amoeba lead such a sophisticated life? How does it hunt living prey respond to lights sounds and smells and display complex sequences of movements without the benefit of a nervous system? This book offers a startling and original answer. In clear jargon-free language Dennis Bray taps the findings of the new discipline of systems biology to show that the internal chemistry of living cells is a form of computation. Cells are built out of molecular circuits that perform logical operations as electronic devices do but with unique properties. Bray argues that the computational juice of cells provides the basis of all the distinctive properties of living it allows organisms to embody in their internal structure an image of the world and this accounts for their adaptability responsiveness and intelligence. In Wetware  Bray offers imaginative wide-ranging and perceptive critiques of robotics and complexity theory as well as many entertaining and telling anecdotes. For the general reader the practicing scientist and all others with an interest in the nature of life the book is an exciting portal to some of biologys latest discoveries and ideas.
language: English
title: Wetware: A Computer in Every Living Cell
publisher: Yale University Press