Evolution at the Origins of Life: Modelling Simple Persistent Replicating Objects

Abstract

This paper looks at concerns for very early evolution near the origins of life. At the very least the objects that are our most distant ancestors must have been objects that could persist for some time, and replicate. The models presented here examine the evolution of such proto-life objects whose only characteristics are how long they exist for and how quickly they can replicate. No explicit selection regime is needed, instead these objects evolve due to their own simple dynamics until a persistence error threshold is reached. The last part of the paper discusses ways in which this error threshold can be first moved and then overcome by the respective evolution of mutation rates and then predation.