This season we’ve been exploring the concept of mechanism in reproductive biology. In a recent episode with Dr. Dan Nicholson we learned that scientists have historically framed problems in biology through metaphors that reflect everyday technologies. In fact, the word mechanism implies that biology has machine-like qualities. Today, as digital computers permeate nearly every part of our daily lives, it seems worth examining whether computing metaphors are poised to reshape our understanding of biology in the 21st century, much as the machine metaphor did in the latter half of the 20th century. 

Today I have the pleasure of chatting with Dr. Corey Maley of Purdue University. Corey is a philosopher with a background in neuroscience who studies the fundamental nature of computation… A topic that is much broader than I originally thought. Our chat covers the role of philosophy in science, the definition of computation, and when biological systems are (and are not) literally computers. 

Learn More about SSR at SSR.org

Learn more about Dr. Maley's work at: https://www.cla.purdue.edu/directory/profiles/corey-maley.html

Link to Paper "How (and Why) To Think That The Brain is Literally A Computer".