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Does “Information” Provide a Compelling Framework for a Theory of Natural Selection? Grounds for Caution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Sahotra Sarkar
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Abstract

Frank has recently argued for an information-theoretic interpretation of natural selection. This interpretation is based on the identification of a measure related to the Malthusian parameter (for population change) with the Jeffreys divergence between the present allelic distribution of the population and that distribution in the next generation. It is pointed out in this analysis that this identification only holds if the mean fitness of the population is a constant, that is, there is no selection. This problem is used to argue for the superiority of the standard dynamical interpretation of natural selection over its information-theoretic counterpart.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 81 , Issue 1 , January 2014 , pp. 22 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

This analysis was presented at the Conference on Evolution, Intentionality and Information, Department of Philosophy, University of Bristol, May 2013. Comments by other participants, in particular, David Crawford, Eva Jablonka, and Samir Okasha, contributed to sharpening the analysis. For discussions on this topic, in some cases over many decades, thanks are also due to the late James F. Crow, A. W. F. Edwards, and R. C. Lewontin. For comments on an earlier draft, thanks are also due to Ulrich Stegmann.

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