When we are taught I think I came up with this idea 10 years or so ago, but part of me thinks I read it somewhere? No new idea under sun and all that. evolution, we are taught a simple metaphor. The tree of life. Where the different leaves represent different species. As you go down from the leaves you find different splits in twigs or branches. These splits represent the last common ancestor for the connected species. As we continue to go down, we eventually reach the trunk which represents the common ancestor of all life.

People love stories. We want a character with a goal. So, when learning of evolution, people like to imagine characters with goals. The giraffe evolved a longer neck in order to reach higher leaves. It’s a common subtle mistake. The giraffe didn’t evolve in order to do anything, it just so happened that those tall neck giraffes were the most genetically fit within their environment. There is no purposeful design.

In this article I offer an alternate metaphor. One that is in my opinion, objectively better. It captures movement of evolution and tells a truly compelling tale.

It’s a common error and I learned it early on. However, I was a stubborn student. I wanted a purpose! I wanted a story! So, in undergrad… I secretly doodled and reframed evolution. In my reframing, I gave evolution characters, I gave those characters purpose, and I gave them a story.

The Wavefront of information Introducing the characters of evolution

Imagine calm still water. Perfectly reflective.

Then a single, droplet falls… and hits the surface.

Plop. Meet DiaNA.

A circular wave forms, but this is no ordinary wave. Diana represents the Gene Regulatory Network. Basically, all of the information in an individual that is transferred through reproduction/replication, whether that information is stored in the DNA, the RNA, or in proteins. All current forms of Diana have the following three abilities. The ability to replicate/reproduce, the ability to preserve information (to an approximately optimal degree), and the ability to influence their environment.

This wave represents life... It represents a population of individuals.

The wave grows outward… It is a population of individuals that will replicate or reproduce given the chance.

This replication or reproduction process can cause variations and mutations… so that all individuals are slightly different.

For some strands of life, Diana’s ability to influence her environment went nuclear. She started creating structures that allowed her to explore, gather resources, and defend herself etc. This started with single-cell organisms…

and continued with multi-cellular organisms...

We won’t talk about these characters too much here, but we will discuss them more in later articles!

Different points along the wave represents different variations within the population.

The important characters here are Wavy and Wavy senior. Wavy and Wavy senior are the characters where we get creative and really start reframing evolution.

A multi-dimensional maze of obstacles & opportunities.

As the wave expands it enters a multi-dimensional maze.

Wavy and Wavy Senior

Wavy represents all of the information within a species at one time. So, all of the information within all of the DNA (Dianas/GRN) within a species.

However, due to the wave being a population of individuals all slightly different, the wave “flows” around these obstacles.

Wavy solves its problems with one simple trick. It is made up of a population of many individuals all slightly different. When a problem comes along, some of it’s population do better than others at addressing the problem. Those who do better, have more offspring. Thus, over time those individuals make up more of the population, and so make up more of Wavy. Wavy thus changes according to the obstacles and opportunities placed in its way. The information that makes up wavy is always changing (Its percentage composition, new mutations, etc.).

When a problem comes along, some of the wave’s population does better than others at addressing the problem. Certain individuals hurt or prosper more given their different traits. Those individuals who are more “fit” tend to reproduce more. This change in the population corresponds to a change in the wave.

The information that makes up the wave is always changing (Its percentage composition, new mutations, etc.).

The wave also changes in response to opportunities. Let's use the wavefront of giraffe information as an example. When the giraffe wave The wavefront makes up a diverse population of individuals. So, when obstacles and opportunities arise certain individuals hurt or prosper more given their different traits. Those individuals who are more “fit” tend to reproduce more, and so the populations information changes. Thus, when the giraffe waveform hits the opportunity of reaching more food, a set of giraffes with longer necks had a greater reproductive chance. They then made up more and more of the gene pool. Over time, this opportunity slowly morphs the entire wavefront. It creates longer and longer necks. created longer and longer necks… and so the Wavy representing the giraffe population changes.

These obstacles and opportunities can split wavefronts in two. This occurs when the in-between option along a dimension is not valuable or possible. For example, if there are two possible valuable niches but the in-between is not possible. You can specialize in swimming in the ocean or walking on land, but the in-between option is not generally valuable. (Though often keeping some ability to swim or walk is valuable, the point is that you cannot specialize in both at once).

Often however this split occurs because of a difference of location. For example, where one segment of the population is located on an island and the other is located on the mainland. In which case each population starts dealing with their own different obstacles and opportunities.

The maze… it moves!

As time goes by different obstacles and opportunities arise. Indeed, the wavefronts that split off, often become obstacles for each other! Predictor and prey used to belong to the same wavefront, but now, in this moment, they are obstacle and opportunity.

This can create an arms race mechanic, where the two waves are racing each other. For example, the fox population may be getting faster in response to the opportunity of the rabbit population. Meanwhile the rabbit population may be getting faster due to the obstacle of the fox population. This can create interesting dynamics that push and squeeze waves of information in new and unique ways.

Now Wavy Senior represents the information wavefront of all of life. In this way of thinking the common tree of life metaphor is replaced with a single wave that has been blocked, split and sloshed continually as it has hit different obstacles and opportunities. A single wave whose ripples navigate the maze of reality. A single wave of information whose offshoots change so much that they are barely recognizable as related.

Every now and then a massive obstacle occurs that effects every wavefront at the same time. This is a mass extinction. For example, when a meteor hit the planet and debris blocked the sun. In this situation, we can remember that all these wavefronts are actually apart of the same wave, and that the diversity of different wavefronts have allowed some to survive this apocalypse.

In this way of thinking the common tree of life metaphor is replaced with a single wave that has been blocked, split and sloshed continually as it has hit different obstacles and opportunities. A single wave whose navigates the ever-changing maze of reality. A single wave of information whose offshoots change so much that they are barely recognizable as related.

The goal of evolution

What is the goal of this wave? Well, it does not have one. It simply flows around obstacles and towards opportunities. The wave does this because it is made up of a diverse population of individuals.

So while doodling in class, I made those characters: Diana, the cell mech, the multi-cell mega-mech, wavy, and wavy senior. I explored the wave reframing of evolution… but I was in search of something. I wanted evolution to have a goal. I wanted these characters to have a goal. Sue me, I am human, and I wanted purpose!

But if you were to pull my arm, and force a post-factum error, I would say that the goal of the wave is to travel through time. Not back-to-the-future style time travel. I am talking old fashioned survival. Second by second, day by day. The waveforms that continued, that did not stop, these by definition travelled through time. Anything alive today, is a part of the wave that succeeded in travelling through the maze from 3.5 billion years ago to today.

I came up with the following. Wavy (and wavy senior) want to travel through time. They are information wavefronts with the purpose of traveling through time. Not back-to-the-future style time travel. I am talking old fashioned survival. Second by second, day by day. The waveforms that continue, that do not stop, by definition travel through time. Anything alive today, is a part of a wave that has succeeded in travelling from 3.5 billion years ago to today. In this way of thinking, the biology we see here today is simply the current wavefront of information from a wave that has successfully travelled through time.

Perhaps we should not call this a goal, because there is no want or desire. Perhaps we can call it a direction. The direction of life is to travel through time. It is what life appears to do post-factum. It grows, replicates and reproduces all because these actions help it move through time. When Wavy changes because of an obstacle or opportunity, it is changing in order to better travel through time given the current environment. Why did the giraffe’s neck grow? So that the population-level information wavefront could better travel through time given the opportunity of eating more leaves.

Now of course, the required note. I was wrong.

It is a classic post-factum error. The waveform does not want anything. It does not have a goal. It is simply, that the waveforms that are here, are the waveforms that made it through the gauntlet. They appear to have the goal of travelling through time, because such traits allowed them to be here. The waveform looks post-factum as if it wanted to travel through time. But in the instant, it is all about a diverse population hitting environmental factors. My college self was wrong.

Stop ruining my fun, I am human, I want there to be a goal.

Well…

Well in truth I still like this goal. Perhaps we should not call it a goal, because there is no want or desire. Perhaps we can call it a direction. The direction of wavy is to travel through time. It is what wavy appears to try to do post-factum. If wavy hits an obstacle or opportunity, the information within wavy changes as to better travel through time within the current environment.

I like this “direction” of evolution for two main reasons.

First it gives me an easy answer to the question: What is the meaning of life? Obviously, the meaning of life is for wavefronts of information to change changing as to better travel though time given the current maze/environment. environment. lol.

Second and most importantly, I think this direction of evolution can theoretically be measured . Not by us humans certainly. But, if (conspiracy theory time) the But......... (time to get weird here) if the entire universe was a part of a series of simulations, the people outside the simulation could theoretically measure the estimated travel time till death of a population-level wavefront in a given environment.

This is a weird way to think, and it took me awhile to wrap my head around it. Given a fixed environment, a population-level information wave has an estimated expiration extinction date. If the population is slowly declining in the current environment, that expiration extinction date may be a long way off. If the population is declining rapidly in the current environment, then the estimated expiration extinction date is soon. If the population is growing in the current environment, then that expiration extinction date is infinity. Of course, environments change… and so this measurement would be constantly changing with the environment.

Interestingly this means you could compare the estimated travel time of a population-level information wave with and without a specific genetic change. This provides the possibility of giving a value value to mutations. For example, this mutation is worth x gained travel time in the given environment.

Now I am not an evolutionary biologist, I have read a decent amount but as an enthusiast, so let’s be clear I am no expert. I was an economic undergrad, and the classes in which I was doodling all of this… was in economics classes. Perhaps in hindsight, that makes sense. Like an economist, I took a ridiculously large and complex system and simplified it with theoretical assumptions (“ keeping the environment constant lol ”) to find a measurable value.

Perhaps I am wrong in how I got here, or perhaps there are better measurements I do not know about. Either way I find it interesting… and do not worry! This is posted in MidFlip! If you can improve this text, do so. know something I don’t, we can change it. MidFlip’s articles evolve through democratic participation. Imagine a simplified, social, and creative blog-a-pedia that aims for intelligent discussion. I aim to keep this article as easy to read (as possible) and to keep the story simple. debate. Come and tell me where i am wrong and we will fix it together. I want to keep the article as easy a read (as possible), and keep the general story. If you have a completely different vision of this topic, please make a new evolving topic, and we will link to it with an explanation. If you have counterarguments, more-simple counter-arguments, editing changes and links etc. Please edit directly and we will vote on the changes.