Cambrian Information Revolution Hypothesis

• The Cambrian Information Revolution Hypothesis is a concept proposing that rapid diversification during the Cambrian explosion was driven by enhanced biological information processing.
• It integrates multidisciplinary evidence from paleontology, astrophysics, and mathematical modeling to explain shifts in cognitive and sensory capacities.
• Quantitative information theory metrics support the idea that environmental complexity selected for organisms with superior information transfer and prediction abilities.

The Cambrian Information Revolution Hypothesis posits that the rapid emergence and diversification of complex life during the Cambrian explosion was triggered by dramatic increases in the capacity of organisms to process, transmit, and exploit environmental information. This theoretical framework integrates evidence across paleontology, evolutionary biology, geochemistry, astrophysical events, and mathematical information theory, suggesting that a transition toward information-rich ecosystems and enhanced cognitive and sensory complexity was a decisive factor underlying evolutionary innovation at ~540 million years ago.

1. Definition and Conceptual Framework

The Cambrian Information Revolution Hypothesis synthesizes multiple lines of inquiry into why the Cambrian explosion featured such a rapid proliferation of biological diversity and complexity. The hypothesis centers on the idea that evolutionary success during this interval was not solely driven by morphological innovation, environmental change, or biogeochemical cycling, but fundamentally by a revolution in how life forms acquired, stored, and acted upon information in increasingly complex and heterogeneous environments. This concept stands in contrast to purely environmental or genetic explanations by emphasizing selective pressures on cognitive and sensory capacities in the context of informational complexity.

2. Astrophysical and External Triggers

A unique aspect of the hypothesis is consideration of external, non-terrestrial triggers for evolutionary innovation. A notable example is the proposal that a nearby gamma-ray burst (GRB), occurring at a distance of ~500 parsecs, delivered high-energy photons (in the range of 50 keV to 50 MeV) to Earth's atmosphere (Chen et al., 2014). The interaction of these photons with atmospheric nitrogen via Compton scattering, described by the differential cross section formula

$$dσ_c(x)/dΩ = (7 r_e^2/2) \cdot (x'/x)^2 [x/x' + x'/x - \sin^2θ]$$

where $x$ and $x'$ are the incident and scattered photon energies, led to conserved photon flux penetrating to sea level. The resulting cascade could induce DNA mutations in organisms shielded in shallow water or soil, accelerating genetic diversification without triggering mass extinction. Corroborating evidence is sought in anomalous abundances of long-lived isotopes (produced by photonuclear reactions in the giant resonance region, ∼15–30 MeV) in Cambrian strata. The scenario delineates a mechanism uniquely capable of stimulating evolution via increased informational flux (mutation rate) rather than devastation.

3. Information Theory Models of Evolutionary Dynamics

Mathematical formalizations rendered in information theory provide a quantitative backbone for the hypothesis (Seoane et al., 2017). In these models, organisms are conceptualized as "bit-guessers" transmitting genetic and phenotypic information through noisy environmental channels. Fitness is defined by the accuracy of environmental prediction relative to metabolic cost, with equations such as

$$\rho^G_E = (\bar{p}^G_E - \alpha) r, \quad \text{where } \alpha = c/r$$

and $\bar{p}^G_E$ is the mean probability of correct prediction. Increased environmental complexity (larger $m$, the environment’s bit length) selects for organisms with greater inference capacity (higher $n$ in $n$-guessers), fostering a natural selection pressure for cognitive complexity:

$\bar{p}^n_m > \alpha$

Survival thus depends on informational processing capability exceeding energetic constraints. Entropy and mutual information metrics quantify the evolved complexity:

$$H(G) = -\frac{1}{n} \sum_{i=1}^n \sum_k p^G(k;i) \log(p^G(k;i)), \quad I(G:E) = \frac{1}{n}\sum_{i=1}^n\sum_{k,k'} p_{G,E}(k,k';i)\log\left( \frac{p_{G,E}(k,k';i)}{p^G(k;i)p_E(k';i)}\right)$$

This supports the hypothesis that rapid diversification during the Cambrian period was driven in part by selection for enhanced information acquisition, prediction, and exploitation.

4. Paleontological Evidence for Environmental Heterogeneity and Behavioral Complexity

Trace fossil analyses demonstrate direct links between environmental informational content and the behavioral evolution of early metazoans (Laing et al., 1 Sep 2025, Laing et al., 3 Sep 2025). In the Ediacaran, Helminthoidichnites tenuis trails reveal spatially variable movement patterns; quantitative modeling discretizes paths and uses turning angle variance statistics to demonstrate that behavior responded dynamically to localized gradients in resource distribution:

$d = w \cdot s$

where $d$ is the segment length between measured points, $w$ the trail width, $s$ a scaling factor. Autocorrelation analyses of movement trajectories from both Ediacaran and Cambrian fossils further reveal a striking transition: Cambrian trace-makers show statistically significant temporal autocorrelation in turning angles over multiple time lags, indicating the evolution of time-tuned behavioral strategies and rudimentary memory-like processes. This is quantified with Pearson’s correlation coefficient:

$$r_h = \frac{\sum_i (\theta_i - \bar{x})(\theta_{i+h} - \bar{x})}{\sum_i (\theta_i - \bar{x})^2}$$

The presence of such temporal structure in Cambrian traces, absent in the Ediacaran, implies a behavioral and cognitive revolution convergent with increased environmental complexity—haLLMarks of the proposed Cambrian information revolution.

5. Geochemical and Biogeochemical Feedbacks

The Cambrian Information Revolution Hypothesis posits that biological innovation feeds back into planetary-scale geochemical cycles (Walton et al., 2023). The rapid rise of biomineralizing eukaryotes during the Cambrian radiation drove a dramatic shift in the locus of carbonate deposition. The continental carbonate reservoir expanded by more than fivefold within 100 Myr of the Cambrian onset:

$$F_\text{carbonate} \propto \frac{V_\text{carbonate}}{t}$$

This modified carbonate burial flux, weathering rates, and nutrient supply, inducing nonlinear changes in the carbon cycle. The subsequent decline in continental carbonate, following extinction events and the rise of open ocean calcifiers, represents a further phase in the biogeochemical trajectory. The implication is that evolutionary innovations in information processing capacities not only influenced organismal fitness but also shaped planetary crustal and atmospheric evolution.

6. Algebraic and Combinatorial Realizations of Information Structure

In the mathematical domain, the Cambrian Information Revolution Hypothesis is formalized through the paper of Cambrian lattices—combinatorial structures that encode sorted information states in finite Coxeter groups (Gorsky et al., 10 Jun 2025). Cambrian lattices are constructed by extracting c-sortable elements (with their c-sorting words showing decreasing subsets of generators), collapsed via a projection map

$$\pi^c_\downarrow : W \rightarrow W_c, \quad W_c \cong W/\theta_c$$

Edge-labellings utilizing inversion sets encode informational transitions, and the passage to the Cambrian lattice is realized categorically as a transition between torsion-free classes in preprojective and hereditary algebras. Maximal green sequences, corresponding to maximal chains in these lattices, capture stable informational states; contraction maps

$$q_c^\# : \{ \lambda^{w_0(c)} \text{-labeled max. chains in } W \} \to \{ \lambda^{w_0(c)}_{\theta_c} \text{-labeled max. chains in } W_c \}$$

preserve order and streamline redundant information, embodying a revolution in informational encoding across mathematical and physical systems.

7. Comparative and Future Perspectives

Distinct from traditional Cambrian explosion theories that center on environmental or ecological factors, the Cambrian Information Revolution Hypothesis foregrounds both external triggers (e.g., GRBs) and intrinsic biological pressures to process information in heterogeneous landscapes. This paradigm extends both to exoplanetary life—where GRBs or accelerated environmental change could drive similar evolutionary pulses—and to mathematical frameworks modeling information transfer. Ongoing research aims to test the hypothesis through geological isotope records, atmospheric modeling, laboratory mutation studies, paleontological trajectory analyses, and categorical algebraic structure mapping.

8. Synthesis and Implications

The Cambrian Information Revolution Hypothesis integrates astrophysical, mathematical, paleontological, and biogeochemical evidence to argue for a multi-domain transition toward complex information processing as the central engine of evolutionary innovation during the Cambrian. Enhanced sensory and cognitive adaptations, quantitatively characterized by increases in mutual information, entropy, and autocorrelation in behavioral trajectories, together with reorganization of informational structures in abstract lattices, support a picture of the Cambrian explosion as an evolutionary and information-theoretic singularity. This framework yields testable predictions and provides a unifying perspective across otherwise disparate lines of evolutionary research.