IPAB Workshop - 21/12/2017

Title

Optimisation and stability  

Abstract

Ashby's homeostat (1948) was designed to demonstrate the ability of living beings to survive in the presence of structural perturbations. More recently, adaptation processes within the lifetime of a cell provide were considered as an application domain for homoeostatic mechanisms which the homeostat can provide, if it is generalised in several respects. In particular, the relation between the topology of interconnections and the observability of the system turns out to be important for the stabilisation to be effective. We will proceed to discuss related systems in the context of a general approach to metaheuristic optimisation, which allows also for ramifications to decision making (in psychology) and active learning in neural networks.