Year: 2018, Number: 2, Pages: 85-120
The article is devoted to the development of the foundation of the replicator-ethological theory of semantic information (RETSI), which opens new prospects for the formalization of information theory compatible with the concept of global evolutionism (GE), capable of embracing various aspects of the emergence and evolution of semantic information, explaining the mechanisms of the emergence of the logic of animal behavior, and also the formation of epigenetic channels for the transmission of information that gave birth to culture, language, mythology and religion, philosophy and science. RETSI uses the concepts of global evolutionism, functional systems (FS), artificial neural networks (INS) and artificial intelligence (AI), and the idea of multimodality of information levels. According to RETSI, information, unlike matter and energy: 1) is not universal, as it does not exist in the inorganic world; 2) is not a conserved quantity, i.e. there is no law for the preservation of information; 3) represents a network phenomenon that manifests itself on several hierarchical levels: gene-regulatory (the interactome of unicellular and hormonal system of multicellular), neuro-ethological and semiotic; 4) is polymodal, since at each hierarchical level it has different carriers and specific forms of coding, processing and use; 5) is individual for every organism, but thanks to communication it can generate complex forms of collective behavior from bacterial communities and eusocial animals to human society. RATSI proceeds from the triunity of the forms of information existence: "replicator-irritability-reaction". A replicator is a self-assembly program for a functional system (FS) capable of (1) maintaining its integrity when interacting with the external environment (self-preservation) for a time sufficient to (2) reproduce copies of the system-generating replicator, or new replicators based on mutations or combinations of old ones. The first, biochemical replicator, was the gene, - the basic element of living matter, and the first functional system that divided the world into external and internal environments - the body. The gene-replicator and such biological information processes as "irritation" and "reaction" are separated in different hierarchical levels: the genetic information is written on DNA molecules, i.e. it corresponds to the molecular level, while sensory (perceptual) and behavioral information functions on the supramolecular, organismic level, in the simplest case, the corresponding cell. Interaction between single-celled organisms is carried out by means of chemical signals affecting gene switches and can manifest itself in a form of collective behavior, such as the bacterial quorum (QS). The progressive complexity of biological objects is based on symbiogenesis and the inevitability of the occurrence of two types of errors. At the level of the replicator, these are errors in the copying of information (duplication and polyploidization), and at the level of the functional systems of the organism - the use of FS to solve problems not intended by the functional repertoire (exaptation). As a result of symbiogenesis, eukaryotes appeared that opened up prospects for the evolution of multicellular organisms, while secondary metabolites found in unicellular fungi and bacteria become phytohormones - signaling molecules in intercellular communication and the most important regulators of vital activity and plant growth. At the neuro-ethological level, as a result of cellular specialization, animals enter a new level of information processing: the function of neurons is the rapid transfer of excitation from the receptors to the effectors, which allowed the animals to pass on locomotion. The formation of neural networks (NN) leads to the appearance of short-term and long-term memory. The process of cephalization led to a complication of the behavioral repertoire of animals, but if at first the behavior was determined by a set of spinal unconditioned reflexes with neurohormonal regulation, the formation of associative zones and neocortex in higher animals, and the formation of conditioned reflexes, made their behavior so complex that it came out of under genetic control and a new, non-genetic channel for transmitting information on the basis of imitation and learning was required. The physiological basis of the new epigenetic translation channel was the mirror neurons found in primates and some birds, thanks to which a second, ethological replicator - meme, laid the foundation of culture and social forms of existence of matter. After the mutation of the FOXP2 gene as a result of meme-genetic coevolution, the appearance of the Broca and Wernicke zones and the language meaning the transition from figurative to verbal-logical thinking and the transformation of information from a signal into a message, the verbalization of consciousness, which caused amphi-dextral symmetry breaking, information processing goes on intersubjective semiotics level and as a result of the historical development of society becomes a multi-level phenomenon endowed with various forms of suggestiveness (faith, rationality, observation, experiment, m thematic computing and evidence, computer simulation). The third, digital replicator associated with artificial life can be neme (derived from the surname J. von Neumann) - a universal self-replicating automat with the built-in 3D printer. The reasons for the irreversibility of evolution and the progressing complexity of organisms are considered, two block diagrams of ethological algorithms are given to explain the logic of animal behavior through the mechanism of the regulatory functioning of neural networks, the emergence of supercomplex systems and the hierarchical structure of levels of information processing in the context of the GE, discusses the exclusive role of theoretical biology in the forthcoming synthesis of natural and humanitarian knowledge.