---
title: "Polycomputation"
description: "The claim that a single assemblage computes at several scales and in several media at once — electrical, chemical, mechanical, tissue-level — rather than having one computational layer served by inert support."
type: "glossary-term"
canonical_url: "https://antikythera.wiki/terms/polycomputation"
md_url: "https://antikythera.wiki/md/terms/polycomputation"
last_updated: "2026-09-06"
site: "Antikythera Wiki"
---

# Polycomputation

> A working definition written for this wiki from the reading notes; not Antikythera's own wording. From Antikythera Wiki (https://antikythera.wiki/terms/polycomputation), an independent guide to Antikythera's published work.

The claim that a single assemblage computes at several scales and in several media at once — electrical, chemical, mechanical, tissue-level — rather than having one computational layer served by inert support. In the organoid case: the microelectrode array is not the only thing computing; the culture medium is a computational layer (via Cronin's *chemputation*, "if liquids can compute"), and the geometry of a microdevice's channels programs organoid growth through mechanical force alone. Derives from Bongard and Levin's "overloaded, multi-scale machines." The consequence for design is that inputs, substrates, media and enclosures are all parameters of the same computer.

## Appears in

- [Organoid Nation](https://antikythera.wiki/work/journal/hemstacks/organoidnation) (2025-11-21)
- [Substrates Unbound](https://antikythera.wiki/work/journal/substrates) (2025-11-21)
- [Organoid Array Computing: The Design Space of Organoid Intelligence](https://antikythera.wiki/work/journal/coginfra/organoid-array-computing) (2025-05-10)

_Glossary generated 2026-09-06._