Simplification, innateness, and the absorption of meaning from context: how novelty arises from gradual network evolution

Abstract: The theory of interaction-based evolution argues that, at the most basic level of analysis, there is a third alternative for how adaptive evolution works besides a) accidental mutation and natural selection and b) Lamarckism, namely, c) information provided by natural selection on the fit between the organism and its environment is absorbed by non-accidental mutation. This non-accidental mutation is non-Lamarckian yet useful for evolution, and is due to evolved and continually evolving mutational mechanisms operating in the germ cells. However, this theory has left a fundamental problem open: If mutational mechanisms are not Lamarckian---if they are not "aware" of the environment and the macroscale phenotype---then how could heritable novelty be due to anything other than accidental mutation? This paper aims to address this question by arguing the following. Mutational mechanisms can be broadly construed as enacting local simplification operations on the DNA in germ cells, along with gene duplication. The joint action of these mutational operations and natural selection provides simplification under performance pressure. This joint action creates from preexisting biological interactions new elements that have the inherent capacity to come together into unexpected useful interactions with other such elements, thus explaining nature's tendency for cooption. Novelty thus arises not from a local genetic accident but from gradual network-level evolution. Many empirical observations are explained from this perspective, from cooption and gene fusion at the molecular level, to the evolution of behavior and instinct at the organismal level. Finally, the nature of mutational mechanisms and the need to study them in detail are described, and a connection is drawn between evolution and learning.