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The theory of interaction-based evolution argues that, at the most basiclevel of analysis, there is a third alternative for how adaptive evolutionworks besides a) accidental mutation and natural selection and b) Lamarckism,namely, c) information provided by natural selection on the fit between theorganism and its environment is absorbed by non-accidental mutation. Thisnon-accidental mutation is non-Lamarckian yet useful for evolution, and is dueto evolved and continually evolving mutational mechanisms operating in the germcells. However, this theory has left a fundamental problem open: If mutationalmechanisms are not Lamarckian---if they are not "aware" of the environment andthe macroscale phenotype---then how could heritable novelty be due to anythingother than accidental mutation? This paper aims to address this question byarguing the following. Mutational mechanisms can be broadly construed asenacting local simplification operations on the DNA in germ cells, along withgene duplication. The joint action of these mutational operations and naturalselection provides simplification under performance pressure. This joint actioncreates from preexisting biological interactions new elements that have theinherent capacity to come together into unexpected useful interactions withother such elements, thus explaining nature's tendency for cooption. Noveltythus arises not from a local genetic accident but from gradual network-levelevolution. Many empirical observations are explained from this perspective,from cooption and gene fusion at the molecular level, to the evolution ofbehavior and instinct at the organismal level. Finally, the nature ofmutational mechanisms and the need to study them in detail are described, and aconnection is drawn between evolution and learning.

Simplification, innateness, and the absorption of meaning from context: how novelty arises from gradual network evolution