Entangled Life and Code: A Computational Design Taxonomy for Synergistic Bio-Digital Systems
🤖 AI Summary
This work addresses the lack of a shared language in existing bio-digital systems, which has confined microorganisms to unidirectional roles as mere sensors or actuators, thereby hindering genuine co-computation. To overcome this limitation, the study proposes a taxonomy for human-centered bio-digital collaborative computing. Through a systematic review of 70 interdisciplinary case studies, it maps biological mechanisms onto computational abstractions and constructs a theoretical framework that enables bidirectional co-adaptation. Moving beyond conventional unidirectional control paradigms, this approach identifies actionable pathways for collaborative computation and offers an innovative classification system and design guidelines for engineering regenerative, reciprocal bio-digital symbioses that exhibit temporal and scale extensibility.
Application Category
📝 Abstract
Bio-digital systems that merge microbial life with technology promise new modes of computation, combining biological adaptability with digital precision. Yet realizing this potential symbiotically -- where biological and digital agents co-adapt and co-process -- remains elusive, largely due to the absence of a shared vocabulary bridging biology and computing. Consequently, microbes are often constrained to uni-directional roles, functioning as sensors or actuators rather than as active, computational partners in bio-digital systems. In response, we propose a taxonomy and pathways that articulate and expand the roles of biological and digital entities for synergetic bio-digital computation. Using this taxonomy, we analysed 70 systems across HCI, design, and engineering, identifying how biological mechanisms can be mapped onto computational abstractions. We argue that such mappings enable computationally actionable directions that foster richer and reciprocal relationships in bio-digital systems, supporting regenerative ecologies across time and scale while inspiring new paradigms for computation in HCI.
Problem
Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.
bio-digital systems
computational symbiosis
biological computation
shared vocabulary
microbial roles
Innovation
Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.
bio-digital systems
computational taxonomy
synergistic computation
biological agency
human-computer interaction
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