Seminar
Signaling Games and Codon Evolution, Bud Mishra, NYU, Wed, 27 March, 2013, None A-227
Abstract
In information-asymmetric (signaling) games in which utility is determined by the message complexity (rate) in addition to the error resilience in information transfer (distortion), it is possible for the agents to evolve a signaling convention that is sub- optimal in terms of information transfer, but is nonetheless stable. A particularly interesting scenario in which such a game may have been encountered is the evolution of the genetic code, which is nearly optimal in terms of information transfer, but is also universal and nearly immutable. I will discuss what these signaling dynamics might imply about the RNA world. In addition, I will discuss how such evolutionary pro- cesses may persist today, such as in the evolution of ideas in books and newspapers.