Figure 2.

Information and evolution through natural selection. (a) The propagation of a successful replicator can be understood in terms of a Shannon-like transmission process from one generation to the next in which older generations play the role of a transmitter, younger generations that of a receiver and the environment constitutes a noisy channel. (b) A simple diagram of the underlying evolution of a population of bit-guessers. The survival and replication of a given agent G is indicated by branching, whereas failure to survive is indicated with an empty circle as an endpoint.