911勛圖

Synopsis

In 1972 Phil Andersen articulated the motto of condensed matter physics as ���More is different.��� However, for most condensed matter systems many more is quite similar to more. Here I argue for a class of condensed matter, ���adaptive matter," in which many more is different. The ultimate example of adaptive matter is the brain, whose cognitive capabilities increase as size increases from 302 neurons (C. Elegans) to a million neurons (honeybees) to 100 billion neurons (humans). I propose that adaptive matter provides a unifying conceptual framework for understanding not only a wide range of living systems responsible for function, but also physical systems capable of being trained to develop special collective behaviors without using a processor.