ANASTOMOTIC NET
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 118 ▶ |
| Object type | Discipline oriented, Methodology or model |
A model of neuronal net “in which each neuron listens to many and speaks to many” (W. McCULLOCH, 1974, p.14)
This definition corresponds to a model created by S. WINOGRAD and J.D. COWAN in McCULLOCH's laboratory.
These authors used such nets: “… in such a way as to incorporate the redundant error-correcting codes used in coding for noisy communication channels into the logical functions computed by each neuron in the net. The probability logic which results from their construction is functionally redundant, there are many more possible functions stored in the net than in our own anastomotic nets, and it is this redundancy which is used to obtain reliable computation. Given the assumption that the rate at which neurons malfunction is not tied to the number of inputs playing on each one, the WINOGRAD — COWAN construction is in a one-to-one correspondance with that of SHANNON's which led to the noisy channel coding theorem and the existence of a channel capacity. On this basis there is an analogous computational capacity for reliable computers made of unreliable components” (Ibid)
In view of the recent developments in neuronal nets applications to robotics and connection machines, and their possible use for the study of sociality, this was indeed, in the fifties, inspired work.