A cybernetic framework for synthetic biological intelligence in the era of neural tissue engineering

Advances in synthetic biology and tissue engineering are empowering the design of neural constructs from first principles. This transition toward invention as an approach to discovery invites a critical re-engagement with the field of cybernetics, which despite being underrealized in its time due to technological constraints, continues to shape how we think about control, adaptation, and intelligence. Confronting the inefficiencies of artificial intelligence (AI), investigators have turned to the remarkable learning capacities, robustness, and energy efficiency of living cognitive systems as biocomputers and organic controllers. Here, we consider the design, assembly, and programmability of synthetic biological intelligences as well as their utility as platforms to study minimal cognition within a cybernetics framework. We also consider system architecture, tissue dimensionality, embodiment, organism-environment distinctions, and hybrid robots in the context of an emerging field of diverse intelligence.