Immunology as a Metaphor for Computational ... - Napier University

Chapter 3Immune Systems for Scheduling3.1 IntroductionThe previous chapters have outlined the properties of the biological immune systemthat would seem important in an information processing context in some detail, andprovided an overview of a number of computational implementations of systems whichincorporate various subsets of these properties. The discussion of these properties (inboth biological and artificial terms) implies that the immune system metaphor wouldlend itself most readily to those type of real-world applications which operate in dynamicand unpredictable environments, in which it is necessary to react to changesin a timely manner and in which memory of past experiences provides useful pointersas to the correct course of action. The biological immune system is not perfect;not every potential pathogen can be recognised by every individual, and those that arerecognised often recognised imprecisely. Despite this, the system as a whole functionssufficiently well for the human race to have survived for many thousands of years. Thissuggests that potential application areas for the application of the metaphor are thosein which we are not seeking to find optimal solutions or answers to some problem,but more simply robust and ’good enough’ solutions that allow the system to continueoperating.Some example application areas fitting these aspirations have already been describedin chapter 2. In the introductory chapter, it was suggested that another ob-46