2021/05/09 by David Ellerman, Ellerman, David
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Computer Science · #92B05 #94-01 #DNA and Biological Computing #Evolutionary Algorithms and Applications #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Information Theory (cs.IT)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2105.03907
openalex publication_date 2021/05/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The purpose of this paper is to abstractly describe the notion of a generative mechanism that implements a code and to provide a number of examples including the DNA-RNA machinery that implements the genetic code, Chomsky's Principles & Parameters model of a child acquiring a specific grammar given `chunks' of linguistic experience (which play the role of the received code), and embryonic development where positional information in the developing embryo plays the role of the received code. A generative mechanism is distinguished from a selectionist mechanism that has heretofore played an important role in biological modeling (e.g., Darwinian evolution and the immune system).