On the evolutionary dynamics of complexity and consciousness

The debate over whether evolution has a direction—specifically, whether living systems grow more complex over time—has been revived by arguments that increasing complexity is consistent with the thermodynamic growth of entropy. This paper reviews formal definitions of complexity and the evolutionary mechanisms that can drive its increase. It then proposes that the evolutionary emergence and individual learning of basic phenomenal awareness (a type of consciousness) follow the same time-asymmetrical dynamics. Like life, biological consciousness arguably evolves toward greater complexity for the same underlying reasons.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The perennial debate about the possible directionality of evolution, as indicated by the apparent increase in the complexity of living systems over time, has recently witnessed renewed arguments in favor of the growth of complexity being “entropic,” that is, consistent with the growth of entropy as it is construed in thermodynamics. Here, I offer a brief review of formal treatments of complexity and of evolutionary mechanisms that are capable of causing it to increase. I then propose that both the evolutionary emergence and the individual learning of basic phenomenal awareness, a type of consciousness, are characterized by the same time-asymmetrical dynamics. Like life itself, biological consciousness arguably evolves towards greater complexity, and for the same reasons.