Causal Organization Prior to and Promoting Self-Replication in a Catalytic Model of the Origin of Life
The study used a simulation model to predict when self-replicators would emerge in a system mimicking early life's origins. Researchers measured 'causal emergence' using a specific metric ($ ext{P} ext{rr}$) and found that spikes in this measure reliably preceded the appearance of self-replicators. This suggests that organizational, information-based dynamics are crucial for promoting the evolution of replicators.