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Ignorance can be evolutionarily beneficial
Information is increasingly being viewed as a resource used by organisms to increase their fitness. Indeed, it has been formally shown that there is a sensible way to assign a reproductive value to information and it is non‐negative. However, all of this work assumed that information collection is c...
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| Published in: | Ecology and evolution 2018-01, Vol.8 (1), p.71-77 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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| cites | cdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c5097-f39132c47b943c3daeb270318fea9d27973fd7f29b27eec55ccbf54389978fbc3 |
| container_end_page | 77 |
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| container_start_page | 71 |
| container_title | Ecology and evolution |
| container_volume | 8 |
| creator | Field, Jared M. Bonsall, Michael B. |
| description | Information is increasingly being viewed as a resource used by organisms to increase their fitness. Indeed, it has been formally shown that there is a sensible way to assign a reproductive value to information and it is non‐negative. However, all of this work assumed that information collection is cost‐free. Here, we account for such a cost and provide conditions for when the reproductive value of information will be negative. In these instances, counterintuitively, it is in the interest of the organism to remain ignorant. We link our results to empirical studies where Bayesian behavior appears to break down in complex environments and provide an alternative explanation of lowered arousal thresholds in the evolution of sleep.
Information is a major commodity. However, as with all commodities, collecting information is costly. This is poorly appreciated, and we show conditions when it is best not to collect information. |
| doi_str_mv | 10.1002/ece3.3627 |
| format | article |
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| ispartof | Ecology and evolution, 2018-01, Vol.8 (1), p.71-77 |
| issn | 2045-7758 2045-7758 |
| language | eng |
| recordid | cdi_doaj_primary_oai_doaj_org_article_87d1f03116c24fc3b86bad6254d97b06 |
| source | Publicly Available Content Database; Wiley Open Access; PubMed Central |
| subjects | Arousal Bayesian analysis Bayes’ theorem Data collection Evolution Fitness ignorance information Original Research Reproductive fitness Sleep statistical decision theory |
| title | Ignorance can be evolutionarily beneficial |
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