Replication, Information and Complexity
Working Paper, WP 06-01. ETSS, The Business School, University of Hertfordshire, De Havilland Campus, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL10 9AB, UK, Malting House, 1 Burton End, West Wickham, Cambridgeshire CB1 6SD, UK g.m.hodgson@herts.ac.uk, (July 2006)Abstract
This paper considers the development and refinement of the replicator concept. We find that the established definition of replication in terms of the triple conditions of causality, similarity and information transfer is too inclusive. We draw inspiration from the literature on self-reproducing automata to strengthen the notion of information transfer in replication processes. Essentially, we find that replication must have the potential to enhance complexity, which in turn requires that developmental instructions are part of the information that is transmitted in replication. In addition to the triple conditions of causality, similarity and information transfer, we adopt a fourth condition that defines a replicator as a conditional generative mechanism, a material entity that embodies mechanisms that can turn input signals from an environment into developmental instructions. Demonstrating the usefulness of the replicator concept in the social domain, we identify habits and other social replicators that satisfy all of the four proposed conditions for a possible replicator