Autocatalysis, Information and Coding

Peter R. Wills

Working Papers from Santa Fe Institute

Abstract: Autocatalytic self-construction in macromolecular systems requires the existence of a reflexive relationship between structural components and the functional operations they perform to synthesize themselves. The possibility of reflexivity depends on formal features of the catalytic structure-function relationship, that is, the embedding of catalytic functions in the space of polymeric structures. Reflexivity is a formal property of some genetic sequences. These may serve as the basis for the evolution of coding as a result of autocatalytic self-organisation in a population of assignment catalysts. Autocatalytic selection is a mechanism whereby matter becomes differentiated in primitive biochemical systems. In the case of coding self-organisation it corresponds to the creation of symbolic information.

Keywords: Autocatalysis; self-construction; coding; reflexivity; information. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000-01
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wop:safiwp:00-01-003

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