Conjecture: emergence of proto‑codes and dominance of VGT led to formation of self‑modelling tangled hierarchies (TH‑II)

Determine whether the emergence of proto‑codes and the subsequent predominance of vertical gene transfer caused the transition from tangled hierarchies without self‑modelling to tangled hierarchies with self‑modelling (TH‑II) in early evolution.

Background

The paper distinguishes tangled hierarchies without self‑modelling (TH‑I) from those with self‑modelling (TH‑II), arguing that encoding compressed self‑descriptions confers robustness and efficiency.

Within this framework, the authors conjecture that the rise of proto‑codes and dominance of vertical gene transfer marked a shift to TH‑II, strengthening genotype–phenotype self‑modelling dynamics.

References

Once some proto-codes emerged, encapsulating a prototypical self-descriptions of cellular dynamics, the Darwinian vertical descent based on VGT became the predominant mode of replication. Our conjecture is that this led to formation of the tangled hierarchies of type II.

— Biological arrow of time: Emergence of tangled information hierarchies and self-modelling dynamics (2409.12029 - Prokopenko et al., 18 Sep 2024) in Section 7.1, Emergence of functional self-descriptions