With an aim to build analog computers out of soft matter fluidic systems infuture, this work attempts to invent a new information-theoretic language, inthe form of two-dimensional Quick Response (QR) codes. This language is,effectively, a digital representation of the analog signals shown by theproteinoids. We use two different experimental techniques: (i) avoltage-sensitive dye and (ii) a pair of differential electrodes, to record theanalog signals. The analog signals are digitally approximatied (synthesised) bysampling the analog signals into a series of discrete values, which are thenconverted into binary representations. We have shown theAND-OR-NOT-XOR-NOR-NAND-XNOR gate representation of the digitally sampledsignal of proteinoids. Additional encoding schemes are applied to convert thebinary code identified above to a two-dimensional QR code. As a result, the QRcode becomes a digital, unique marker of a given proteinoid network. We showthat it is possible to retrieve the analog signal from the QR code by scanningthe QR code using a mobile phone. Our work shows that soft matter fluidicsystems, such as proteinoids, can have a fundamental informatiom-theoreticlanguage, unique to their internal information transmission properties(electrical activity in this case) - such a language can be made universal andaccessible to everyone using 2D QR codes, which can digitally encode theirinternal properties and give an option to recover the original signal whenrequired. On a more fundamental note, this study identifies the techniques ofapproximating continuum properties of soft matter fluidic systems using aseries representation of gates and QR codes, which are a piece-wise digitalrepresentation, and thus one step closer to programming the fluids usinginformation-theoretic methods, as suggested almost a decade ago by Tao's fluidprogram.

Information-theoretic language of proteinoid gels: Boolean gates and QR codes

Giuseppe Tarabella;
2024

Abstract

With an aim to build analog computers out of soft matter fluidic systems infuture, this work attempts to invent a new information-theoretic language, inthe form of two-dimensional Quick Response (QR) codes. This language is,effectively, a digital representation of the analog signals shown by theproteinoids. We use two different experimental techniques: (i) avoltage-sensitive dye and (ii) a pair of differential electrodes, to record theanalog signals. The analog signals are digitally approximatied (synthesised) bysampling the analog signals into a series of discrete values, which are thenconverted into binary representations. We have shown theAND-OR-NOT-XOR-NOR-NAND-XNOR gate representation of the digitally sampledsignal of proteinoids. Additional encoding schemes are applied to convert thebinary code identified above to a two-dimensional QR code. As a result, the QRcode becomes a digital, unique marker of a given proteinoid network. We showthat it is possible to retrieve the analog signal from the QR code by scanningthe QR code using a mobile phone. Our work shows that soft matter fluidicsystems, such as proteinoids, can have a fundamental informatiom-theoreticlanguage, unique to their internal information transmission properties(electrical activity in this case) - such a language can be made universal andaccessible to everyone using 2D QR codes, which can digitally encode theirinternal properties and give an option to recover the original signal whenrequired. On a more fundamental note, this study identifies the techniques ofapproximating continuum properties of soft matter fluidic systems using aseries representation of gates and QR codes, which are a piece-wise digitalrepresentation, and thus one step closer to programming the fluids usinginformation-theoretic methods, as suggested almost a decade ago by Tao's fluidprogram.
2024
Istituto dei Materiali per l'Elettronica ed il Magnetismo - IMEM
cs.ET, Computer Science - Information Theory, Mathematics - Information Theory, Physics - Biological Physics, Physics - Chemical Physics
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14243/518916
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