Low dissipation computing in biological systems

Biological systems frequently need to solve many computationally hard decision and optimization problems. The solution of these problems by digital computers as presently understood requires exponentially large energy dissipation. This severely restricts the ability of digital computers to attack such problems. We shall show that only polynomial dissipation is required to solve these problems adequately by "physical annealing", as realized in the genetic system, making these problems tractable energetically.