Conflict driven evolution

Koonin, E.; Wolf, Y.;  Katsnelson, M. (2021). "Conflict driven evolution." New Horizons in Evolution. Cambridge MA: Academic Press. pp. 77 - 96.

"However, contrary to some claims, evolution of complexity is not guaranteed by SOC [self-organized criticality] alone. Indeed, SOC does not result in hierarchical complexity because fractal patterns produced by SOC are not genuinely complex inasmuch as, by definition, they appear the same across all spatial and/or temporal scales (and hence can be produced by a simple algorithm). As an alternative to SOC, evolution of biological complexity has been studied in abstract models based on Highly Optimized Tolerance which emerges via robustness tradeoffs, such as competition between specialists and generalists in unstable environments. Frustrations caused by competing evolutionary factors, such as adaptation to a broad or a narrow range of conditions, seem to underpin this model as well. 

"The patterns of complexity at different levels of biological organization, such as macromolecules, cells, multicellular organisms, populations, and ecosystems, substantially differ. Evolutionarily, these hierarchical levels of organization are linked through MTE [major transitions in evolution] that, as we argue, are driven by competing interactions and the resulting frustration. Indeed, this appears to be the universal driver of the evolution of hierarchy in nature. The actual mathematical theory of frustration-driven evolution remains to be developed and might require mathematical ideas and techniques beyond those currently available" (89).