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Evolution Without Variation and Selection

Liane Gabora, Mike Steel
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.30.274407
Liane Gabora
1The University of British Columbia
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  • For correspondence: liane.gabora@ubc.ca mike.steel@canterbury.ac.nz
Mike Steel
2University of Canterbury
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  • For correspondence: liane.gabora@ubc.ca mike.steel@canterbury.ac.nz
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Abstract

A central tenet of evolutionary theory is that it requires variation upon which selection can act. We describe a means of attaining cumulative, adaptive, open-ended change that requires neither variation nor selective exclusion, and that can occur in the absence of generations (i.e., no explicit birth or death). This second evolutionary process occurs through the assimilation, restructuring, and extrusion of products into the environment by identical, interacting Reflexively Autocatalytic and Food set-generated (RAF) networks. Since there is no self-assembly code, it is more haphazard than natural selection, and there is no discarding of acquired traits (a signature characteristic of natural selection). We refer to this more primitive process evolutionary process as Self–Other Reorganisation because it involves internal self-organising and self-maintaining processes within entities, as well as interaction between entities. In the extreme, it can work with just one entity but it differs from learning because it can operate in groups of entities and produce adaptive change across generations. We suggest that this more primitive process is operative during the initial stage of an evolutionary process, and that it is responsible for both the origin and early evolution of both organic life, and human culture. In cultural evolution, this ‘evolution without variation’ process can increase homogeneity amongst members of a group and thereby foster group identity and cohesion.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted September 03, 2020.
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Evolution Without Variation and Selection
Liane Gabora, Mike Steel
bioRxiv 2020.08.30.274407; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.30.274407
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Evolution Without Variation and Selection
Liane Gabora, Mike Steel
bioRxiv 2020.08.30.274407; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.30.274407

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