A niche construction-based approach to evolution by natural selection without reproduction-proof of concept and implications.

In past decades, conceptual analysis has established that evolution by natural selection (ENS) can occur without reproduction (Bouchard 2008 Philos. Sci. 75, 560-570 (doi:10.1086/594507); Papale, 2021 Synthese 198, 10 429-10 455 (doi:10.1007/s11229-020-02729-6)). The aim of this paper is to provide a computational proof of concept for this theoretical advance and to start assessing some of its conceptual upshots. To do so, we designed an agent-based model that introduces and defends a niche construction-based account of ENS without reproduction (ENSwR, pronounced like 'answer'). Our results provide a computationally tractable proof of concept for ENSwR and a basis to reflect on some of its conceptual implications for debates regarding the origins of life. First, conceptual analysis suggests that ENSwR provides a novel explanatory framework that supports origins of life theories in which autocatalytic sets (ACSs) of chemical reactions play a central role (Xavier, Kauffman 2022 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 380, 20210244 (doi:10.1098/rsta.2021.0244)). Second, through a discussion of the hydrothermal vent theory for the origins of life, we show that ENSwR will contribute to explaining the evolutionary origins of reproduction.