The 'pathogenic exposure' paradigm

The acquired immune system provides inspiration for learning models and algorithms. In conceptualizing such models and algorithms, it is intuitive for patterns of thought to focus on the system itself (such as the shape space and affinity landscape paradigms). An alternative paradigm is to consider the immune system as situated in an environment which may dictate what to learn and when to learn it. This work presents a pathogenic-exposure centric paradigm of acquired immunity (clonal selection in particular) and considers how this conceptualization may influence the concerns of designing and investigating acquired immune inspired adaptive models and algorithms.