Does Gaia Play Dice? : Simple Models of non-Darwinian Selection

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Arthur, Rudy, Nicholson, Arwen
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2023
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author Arthur, Rudy
Nicholson, Arwen
author_facet Arthur, Rudy
Nicholson, Arwen
contents In this paper we introduce some simple models, based on rolling dice, to explore mechanisms proposed to explain planetary habitability. The idea is to study these selection mechanisms in an analytically tractable setting, isolating their consequences from other details which can confound or obscure their effect in more realistic models. We find that while the observable of interest, the face value shown on the die, `improves' over time in all models, for two of the more popular ideas, Selection by Survival and Sequential Selection, this is down to sampling effects. A modified version of Sequential Selection, Sequential Selection with Memory, implies a statistical tendency for systems to improve over time. We discuss the implications of this and its relationship to the ideas of the `Inhabitance Paradox' and the `Gaian bottleneck'.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2301_02623
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Does Gaia Play Dice? : Simple Models of non-Darwinian Selection
Arthur, Rudy
Nicholson, Arwen
Populations and Evolution
In this paper we introduce some simple models, based on rolling dice, to explore mechanisms proposed to explain planetary habitability. The idea is to study these selection mechanisms in an analytically tractable setting, isolating their consequences from other details which can confound or obscure their effect in more realistic models. We find that while the observable of interest, the face value shown on the die, `improves' over time in all models, for two of the more popular ideas, Selection by Survival and Sequential Selection, this is down to sampling effects. A modified version of Sequential Selection, Sequential Selection with Memory, implies a statistical tendency for systems to improve over time. We discuss the implications of this and its relationship to the ideas of the `Inhabitance Paradox' and the `Gaian bottleneck'.
title Does Gaia Play Dice? : Simple Models of non-Darwinian Selection
topic Populations and Evolution
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.02623