Biological Computing Substrates: A Review of Where Living Systems Outperform Silicon and Why Rarely

Abstract

Biological Computing Substrates has moved quickly from a niche scientific question to something a wider community can now
investigate with reasonably reliable tools, but the evidence behind it has not always kept pace. We pull together the current
evidence for biological computing substrates, covering the methodological, practical, regulatory and cost angles, with an eye on
where practice has genuinely settled and where researchers and reviewers are still largely working it out for themselves. Selective,
context-specific pursuit looks better supported by the evidence gathered here than either broad rollout or blanket avoidance.