hypothesis

active

hypothesis:h1-individuality-requires-a-dynamical-process-development-mediating-the-plastic-expression-of-components-in-the-context-of-one-another-with-the-specific-form-of-computing-a-collective-character-that-is-a-non-linearly-separable-function-of-embryonic-particle-characters-with-the-effect-of-coordinating-reproduction-based-on-this-collective-character

H1: Individuality requires a dynamical process (development), mediating the plastic expression of components in the context of one another, with the specific form of computing a collective character that is a non-linearly separable function of (embryonic) particle characters, with the effect of coordinating reproduction based on this collective character.

Main hypothesis about the architecture of individuality

Source paper

extracted_from

Design for an Individual: Connectionist Approaches to the Evolutionary Transitions in Individuality

(2022) · Watson, Richard A. · Levin, Michael · Buckley, Christopher L.

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

Claims (2)

claim

Particle plasticity is a concrete individuation mechanism that enables access to non-decomposable components of collective fitness
supports
Authors argue plasticity is key to creating heritable collective fitness differences without particle-level selection conflict
Developmental interactions required for evolutionary individuality must be able to coordinate solutions to non-decomposable functions (division of labour games)
supports
Developmental process is identified as computing non-linearly separable collective phenotypes

Questions (1)

question

How do multiple short-sighted, self-interested entities organise their relationships with one another to create a new level of individuality?
gates
Central puzzle of ETIs: how cooperation at higher level evolves when lower-level selection favors individual reproduction.

Related by similarity (8)

cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edge

Entities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.

The kind of relationships necessary to produce evolutionary individuality – the generation and heritability of fitness differences at the collective level – are the same as those required to produce organismic individuality – the information integration and collective action characteristic of a self.claim0.848
Core conjecture linking evolutionary and organismic individuality.
Organismic individuality evolved through a bottom-up process of collective intelligence, resulting in information integration and coordinated action so well-organised that we observe a new level of organismic and evolutionary individuality.claim0.814
Historical narrative for the origin of individuals.
Organismic individuality can be separated from genetics: integration and collective action occur in non-neural systems.finding0.814
Empirical findings from developmental biology (Manicka & Levin, Lyon et al.) supporting mechanistic basis for individuality independent of genetic determination.
The complex nature of functional relationships between component parts begins to look less like the product of selection at the system level, and more like the source of evolutionary individuality.claim0.811
Inverts the causal arrow: relationships produce individuality, not vice versa.
Functional relationships required for new individuality level encode non-linearly separable functions and are enacted via information integration and collective actionhypothesis0.809
Integration and collective action (basal cognition) mechanisms enact the functional relationships necessary for new individuality.hypothesis0.809
Proposes biological mechanisms implementing non-decomposable functions in developmental individuality.
The conditions necessary to evolve a new level of individuality are described by the conditions necessary to learn non-decomposable functions (deep model induction)claim0.807
Core interpretive claim of the paper connecting ETIs to connectionist learning
To be a bona fide evolutionary unit, a collective must exhibit heritable variation in reproductive success that belongs properly to the collective level – over and above the sum of that exhibited by its component parts.claim0.806
Formal requirement for evolutionary individuality.