Rasmus Skern-Mauritzen, Thomas Nygaard Mikkelsen

Evolution is contingent on inherited information shaped by natural selection. Few biologists familiar with evolution would object to this description. This apparent consensus could be taken to indicate agreement on the forces shaping evolution, but vivid discussions reveal profound divergences on how evolution is perceived. The predominant paradigm of the Modern Synthesis (MS) holds the position that evolution occurs through random changes and natural selection acting on genomic inheritance. However, studies from recent decades have revealed that evolutionary inheritance also includes epigenetic methylation, RNA, symbionts, and culture, among other factors. This has led to voices rising in demand of a broader evolutionary perspective, for example from the proponents of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES). Despite disagreements on how evolution should be conceived, the different views agree that natural selection happens through dissimilar perpetuation of inheritable information. Yet, neither the MS, nor the ESS dwell on the nature of hereditary information. We do - and find that information in and of itself is immaterial. We then argue that the quality upon which natural selection acts henceforth is also immaterial. Based on these notions, we arrive at the information-centric Information Continuum Model (ICM) of evolution, which asserts that hereditary information is embedded in diverse physical forms (DNA, RNA, epigenetic markers, symbionts etc.) with a combined continuum of evolutionary qualities, and that information may migrate between these physical forms. The ICM is advantageous in that it leaves exploration of evolution unrestricted by the limitations imposed by the inherent properties of the physical forms, wherein the hereditary information is embedded (for example the genome). We argue that ICM bestows us with a simple heuristic model that adds explanatory dimensions to be considered in the evolution of biological systems, and in more practical terms, in the planning and interpretation of studies and experiments.