Paton R
Liverpool Biocomputation Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Liverpool, UK.
Biosystems. 1996;38(2-3):155-62. doi: 10.1016/0303-2647(95)01586-8.
The notion of bioinformation is central to the biosciences. This short paper examines a number of metaphors which are intimately related to this idea. These include metaphors about 'system' as well as metaphors associated with biosystem as 'text'. A framework its presented which allows ideas about biosystems and computer systems to be displaced and a number of specific topics are then discussed. Firstly, information processing in non-neural tissues is given as an example of parallel distributed processing. This is followed with a number of metaphors associated with 'text', including 'glue', 'verbs' and 'interpretation'. The paper concludes with a proposal on how to integrate general ideas of bioinformation using the idea of the 'ecology of domains'.
生物信息的概念是生物科学的核心。这篇短文探讨了一些与这一概念密切相关的隐喻。这些隐喻包括关于“系统”的隐喻以及与作为“文本”的生物系统相关的隐喻。文中提出了一个框架，该框架能够置换关于生物系统和计算机系统的观念，随后讨论了一些具体主题。首先，以非神经组织中的信息处理为例来说明并行分布式处理。接下来是一些与“文本”相关的隐喻，包括“胶水”“动词”和“诠释”。本文最后提出了一项建议，即如何利用“领域生态学”的概念来整合生物信息的一般观念。
