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Exact definition of a prene

Develop a precise, formal definition of a prene—beyond the informal description as “a basic unit of information that can be stored in physical things”—that specifies necessary and sufficient conditions under which a physical object stores a particular prene (i.e., constitutes a copy), and clarifies the boundaries of the concept for use in a general theory of evolution.

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Background

The book introduces prenes as fundamental units of information underlying genes, memes, and Turenes, intended to unify biological, social, and computational evolution. While an informal, OED-like description is offered, the author explicitly acknowledges the lack of an exact definition and connects this limitation to deep issues such as the problem of universals.

Later, a set-theoretic approach (“What is a prene – really?”) is proposed to make the concept more amenable to research, but it is still described as not exact, reinforcing that a fully precise definition remains unresolved.

References

“Unfortunately, I don't exactly know.” … “For the same reason, I cannot provide an exact definition of prene.”

Darwin Turing Dawkins: Building a General Theory of Evolution (2402.10393 - Adleman, 16 Feb 2024) in Part I: Prenes — What is a prene?