The computational beauty of nature
This seminar is an small-scale version of the augmented lecture "The computational beauty of Nature", a theatrical performance presented at Il teatro della meraviglia.
A journey into the computational essence of nature: cooperation among living beings, which reveals complex and fascinating behaviours, can be a source of inspiration to design equally fascinating information systems.
The flight of a flock of birds, the structure of an anthill or the synchronized sound of a swarm of crickets, let us suppose that a member of the population is leading and coordinating the others.
But that is far from being true. Each individual is nothing more than a simple computing unit, often following a small set of elementary rules. Complexity comes from the large number of units and their interactions; the resulting global behaviour is often unexpected and fascinating. The decentralized organization of these natural phenomena has inspired the design of distributed computer systems, which inherit their characteristics: the ability to self-organize, to adapt, to resist. And they are as fascinating as the natural behaviours that inspired them.
Lecturer:
Alberto Montresor received a PhD in Computer Science in 2000. He has been a professor at the University of Trento since 2005. He has written more than 120 articles on large distributed systems, cloud computing, and P2P networks. He teaches Algorithms and Data Structures; he has published a book on this topic and has a YouTube channel with nearly 2,000 subscribers and over 250,000 views.
Recently he has developed an interest for teaching and dissemination in information technology.