Maureen O'Malley (University of Sydney)
I focus on elucidating the special features bacterial model systems have over other organismal model systems. These features go beyond merely practical advantages, such as small size and fast generation time, to something Parke and I call 'epistemic' tractability. This form of tractability is particularly concerned with how microbial models have similar properties to mathematical and computational models. I will demonstrate how bacteria can function both as quantified equations and iterative algorithms. Going even further, I will also suggest that bacterial model systems are valuable for philosophical models of basic life processes, and show how this would work.
