Rama, Tiago (2026) Developmental Synergistic Information. Theory in Bioscience.
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Abstract
This article characterizes Oyama’s concept of ontogenesis of information formally. I apply the mathematical notion of synergistic information to the framework proposed by Griffiths et al. (2015) for developmental information and specificity. This allows us to examine the specificity revealed by the interaction of variables as a result of interventions on interactions. I define Developmental Synergistic Information as the specificity of interacting variables obtained by measuring how much mutual information interventions on interactions carry about the effect variable. To formalise this concept, I use partial information decomposition, one of the most robust frameworks for analysing synergistic information. Some examples of developmental synergistic information are presented. Finally, I consider the philosophical implications of developmental synergistic information, arguing that it supports important tenets of organism-centered biology: (i) synergistic information has ontogeny—order is generated in epigenesis; (ii) such information is non-transmissible through channels of inheritance—the specificity of outcomes must be reconstructed anew in each generation; (iii) the developmental organism (or any synergistic system under consideration) is itself a cause of development—causation resides in the coaction of developmental variables; and (iv) the developmental context of information must be taken into account—that developmental causation is always embedded in and constrained by a developmental matrix of other specifiers.
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