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Engineering and biology : counsel for a continued relationship

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Calcott, Brett, Levy, Arnon, Siegal, Mark L., Soyer, Orkun S. and Wagner, Andreas (2015) Engineering and biology : counsel for a continued relationship. Biological Theory, 10 (1). pp. 50-59. doi:10.1007/s13752-014-0198-3

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13752-014-0198-3

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Abstract

Biologists frequently draw on ideas and terminology from engineering. Evolutionary systems biology—with its circuits, switches, and signal processing—is no exception. In parallel with the frequent links drawn between biology and engineering, there is ongoing criticism against this cross-fertilization, using the argument that over-simplistic metaphors from engineering are likely to mislead us as engineering is fundamentally different from biology. In this article, we clarify and reconfigure the link between biology and engineering, presenting it in a more favorable light. We do so by, first, arguing that critics operate with a narrow and incorrect notion of how engineering actually works, and of what the reliance on ideas from engineering entails. Second, we diagnose and diffuse one significant source of concern about appeals to engineering, namely that they are inherently and problematically metaphorical. We suggest that there is plenty of fertile ground left for a continued, healthy relationship between engineering and biology.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: Q Science > QH Natural history
Divisions: Faculty of Science > Life Sciences (2010- ) > Biological Sciences ( -2010)
Faculty of Science > Life Sciences (2010- )
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Systems biology, Evolution (Biology)
Journal or Publication Title: Biological Theory
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
ISSN: 1555-5542
Official Date: March 2015
Dates:
DateEvent
March 2015Published
14 January 2015Available
29 November 2014Accepted
23 March 2014Submitted
Volume: 10
Number: 1
Number of Pages: 10
Page Range: pp. 50-59
DOI: 10.1007/s13752-014-0198-3
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Access rights to Published version: Restricted or Subscription Access

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