During the evolution of life, there have been several transitions in which individuals began to cooperate, forming higher levels of organization, and sometimes losing their independent reproductive identity (Bonner, 1988; Maynard-Smith and Szathmary, 1995; Wilson, 1971; Buss, 1987; Jablonka, 1994). For example, multicellularity and insect societies evolved independently multiple times. Several factors that confer evolutionary advantages on higher levels of organization have been proposed. Two such factors which may yield advantages are division of labor and increased size (Bonner, 1988; Maynard-Smith and Szathmary, 1995). In this paper we highlight another factor: information sharing. Information sharing is not subject to the intrinsic conservation laws that characterize the sharing of physical resources. A simple model will illustrate how information sharing can result in individuals that both receive more information about their environment and pay less for it. These effects may have played a role in the evolution of higher levels of organization.
Accepted by Proc. Roy. Soc. B
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Paper provided by Santa Fe Institute in its series Working Papers with number
99-03-018.