https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussi ... -evolution
Gnomon
Yesterday, I came across an online headline that caught my eye, due to my philosophical interest in the role of Information in the world, and in evolution in particular. One title, on a science news mag, grandly announced "Scientists Unveil Nature’s Missing Evolutionary Law". And I quickly found several other sites with references to a "missing law" to be added to Darwin's 4 or 5 "principles"*1. The major novelty is that this proposed "law" applies to every phase of nature, not just biology. Another difference is its use of "information" in a modern, post-Shannon sense. The articles don't mention it, but I see a relationship to Integrated Information Theory (IIT), which is not yet a law, but a hypothesis. Below, I post a few quotes from three different articles, to invite commentary. In a separate post, I'll add some comments of my own.
*1. What are the 4 laws of evolution?
The four propositions underlying Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection are: (1) more individuals are produced than can survive; (2) there is therefore a struggle for existence; (3) individuals within a species show variation; and (4) offspring tend to inherit their parents' characters.
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/nature-e ... ection-4.1
A. Scientists Unveil Nature’s Missing Evolutionary Law
https://www.sci.news/physics/law-of-inc ... 12369.html
Cornell University’s Professor Jonathan Lunine, Dr.Robert Hazen of the Carnegie Institution for Science and their colleagues propose that an additional, hitherto-unarticulated law is required to characterize familiar macroscopic phenomena of our complex,evolving Universe. In essence, the new ‘law of increasing functional information’ states that complex natural systems evolve to states of greater patterning, diversity, and complexity
# The new work postulates a ‘law of increasing functional information,’ which states that a system will evolve ‘if many different configurations of the system undergo selection for one or more functions.’
# In the case of biology, Charles Darwin equated function primarily with survival — the ability to live long enough to produce fertile offspring.
# The third and most interesting function according to the researchers is ‘novelty’ — the tendency of evolving systems to explore new configurations that sometimes lead to startling new behaviors or characteristics, like photosynthesis
# “If increasing functionality of evolving physical and chemical systems is driven by a natural law, we might expect life to be a common outcome of planetary evolution.”
# “The Universe generates novel combinations of atoms, molecules, cells, etc. Those combinations that are stable and can go on to engender even more novelty will continue to evolve. This is what makes life the most striking example of evolution, but evolution is everywhere.”
B. Missing law of universal evolution
Axios : Scientists propose a "missing law" for evolution in the universe
https://www.axios.com/2023/10/22/evolut ... lexity-law
# The law could help to explain the emergence of complex systems around us
# "In a deep sense, there are two time arrows that we experience in life," says Robert Hazen of the Carnegie Institution for Science and who is a co-author of a paper published this week in PNAS describing the proposed law. "One is the idea of aging and death and the other is the idea of renewal and organization
# "The second law must be obeyed by all systems, but there's still something missing that needs to be articulated to effectively describe all the richness that we see in our everyday lives and also across the cosmos," says Michael Wong, an astrobiologist and planetary scientist at the Carnegie Institution and co-author of the paper.
# "You have a universe that keeps mixing things up and then trying out new possibilities," Hazen says, adding that it encompasses biological evolution, too. Things that work are selected for, he adds. "That works on nonliving worlds, and it works on living worlds. It's just a natural process that seems to be universal."
# The team's notion of fitness beyond biology is "really subtle, complex and wonderful," Stuart Kauffman adds.
# And, some say evolution is strictly about Darwinian natural selection and common descent, Hazen says. But, "I'm talking about diversification and patterning through time" from one stage to the next,
C. Scientists propose 'missing' law for the evolution of everything in the universe
https://www.space.com/scientists-propos ... e-universe
# This new law identifies "universal concepts of selection" that drive systems to evolve, whether they're living or not.
# The research team behind the law, which included philosophers, astrobiologists, a theoretical physicist, a mineralogist and a data scientist, have called it "the law of increasing functional information."
# The law applies to systems that form from numerous components — such as atoms, molecules and cells —which can be arranged and rearranged repeatedly and adopt multiple different configurations, according to the statement. The law also says these configurations are selected based on function, and only a few survive.
# theoretical biologist Stuart Kauffman, professor emeritus of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of Pennsylvania, said the study is a "superb, bold, broad,and transformational article,"
Fundamental Functions of information evolution :
Stability -- integrated components form a persisting system
Action -- systemic energy allows the system to move around, to forage
Novelty -- system can reproduce itself to form new systems.
Note --- Integrated Systems are holistic in their collective function
Missing Law of Evolution video
https://youtu.be/Gz1-ubJShNA?si=3uTorrUrokT0a1SP