https://m2.mtmt.hu/ hun 2026-10-25 10:05 JournalArticle 35425884 ADMIN_APPROVED true Funding Agency and Grant Number: Jnos Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Funding text: We are thankful to our reviewers for the creative comments and criticism. 0 false 2026-05-24T05:21:28.113+0000 2025-09-26T09:43:27.793+0000 2024-09-30T07:31:29.706+0000 true 10072271 Andódy Katalin /api/admin/10072271 Admin true 2025-09-26T09:43:27.969+0000 2025-09-26T09:43:27.969+0000 2025-02-25T13:31:29.274+0000 true 10071503 Szabó Regina /api/admin/10071503 Admin true Admin 10014568 /api/admin/10014568 Vándor Andrea true 10014568 true Admin 10025544 /api/admin/10025544 Lévayné Deseő Katalin true 10025544 true 2025-05-20T15:53:24.811+0000 true false true 24 24 /api/publicationtype/24 PublicationType 1 true 24 JournalArticle true 10000249 Comment, Correction true 24 24 /api/publicationtype/24 PublicationType 1 true 24 JournalArticle /api/subtype/10000249 Hozzászólás, helyreigazítás SubType 111 true 10000249 true 1 /api/category/1 Category true 1 Zachar, István Tautology explains evolution without variation and selection. A Comment on: 'An evolutionary process without variation and selection' (2021), by Gabora et al. true true /api/journal/10003345 REVIEWED true false 10003345 false 10003345 true 1742-5689 1742-5662 Journal FOREIGN 21 218 20230579 20230579 5 2024 Gabora and Steel (Gabora L, Steel M. 2021 An evolutionary process without variation and selection. J. R. Soc. Interface 18, 20210334. [doi:10.1098/rsif.2021.0334]) claim that cumulative adaptive evolution is possible without natural selection, that is, without variation and competition. To support this claim, the authors modelled a theoretical process called self-other reorganization (SOR) that envisages a population of reflexively autocatalytic sets that can accumulate beneficial changes without any form of birth, death or selection, that is without population dynamics. The authors claim that despite being non-Darwinian, adaptive evolution happens in SOR, deeming it relevant to the origin of life and to cultural evolution. We analysed SOR and the claim that it implements evolution without variation and selection. We found that the authors, by design, ignore the growth and/or degradation of autocatalytic sets or their components, assuming all effects are beneficial and all entities in SOR are identical and immutable. We prove that due to these assumptions, SOR is a trivial model of horizontal percolation of beneficial effects over a static population. We implemented an extended model of SOR including more realistic assumptions to prove that accounting for any of the ignored processes inevitably leads to conventional Darwinian dynamics. Our analysis directly challenges the authors' claims, revealing evidence of an overly fragile foundation. While the best-case scenario the authors incorrectly generalize from may be mathematically valid, stripping away their unrealistic assumptions reveals that SOR does not represent real entities (e.g. protocells) but rather models the triviality that fast horizontal diffusion of effects can effectively equalize a population. Adaptation in SOR is solely because the authors only consider beneficial effects. The omission of death/growth dynamics and maladaptive effects renders SOR unrealistic and its relevance to evolution, cultural or biological, questionable. Funding 2057703 /api/funding/2057703 false true 2024 true true false false true false GOLD 2026-05-24 true https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2023.0579 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 false false false false 2024-12-29T09:03:30.834+0000 Evolúciótudományi Intézet (HUN-REN ÖK); Lendület Recens Kutatócsoport (HUN-REN TK); Növényrendszertani, Ökológiai és Elméleti Bioló... (ELTE / TTK / Bio_I); Szociológia és Kommunikáció Tanszék (BME / GTK) 3 21 4 3 0 false 10014568 10025544 Language 10002 /api/language/10002 Angol English true 2 true PersonAuthorship 120691585 /api/authorship/120691585 1 0.333 true false true Author 10018723 /api/author/10018723 Zachar István true 10018723 true Zachar István true false false AuthorshipType 1 /api/authorshiptype/1 0 true 0 true false true PersonAuthorship 120691586 /api/authorship/120691586 2 0.333 false false true Author 10095388 /api/author/10095388 Máté Jakab true true Máté Jakab true false false AuthorshipType 1 /api/authorshiptype/1 0 true 0 true false true PersonAuthorship 120691587 /api/authorship/120691587 3 0.333 false true false Author 10019188 /api/author/10019188 Számadó Szabolcs DUPLUM true 10019188 true Számadó Szabolcs true false false AuthorshipType 1 /api/authorshiptype/1 0 true 0 true false true PublicationIdentifier 27561026 /api/publicationidentifier/27561026 PlainSource 6 /api/publicationsource/6 PublicationSourceType 10001 /api/publicationsourcetype/10001 true true true DOI DOI https://doi.org/@@@ true true 6 true GOLD true IDENTICAL 10.1098/rsif.2023.0579 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2023.0579 false true PublicationIdentifier 27561027 /api/publicationidentifier/27561027 PlainSource 1 /api/publicationsource/1 PublicationSourceType 10003 /api/publicationsourcetype/10003 false true true WoS WoS https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/@@@ true true 1 true IDENTICAL 001315117400001 https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/001315117400001 false true PublicationIdentifier 29896855 /api/publicationidentifier/29896855 SwordSource 36 /api/publicationsource/36 PublicationSourceType 10007 /api/publicationsourcetype/10007 true true true REAL REAL http://real.mtak.hu/@@@ true true 36 true GOLD true 225267 http://real.mtak.hu/225267 false true PublicationIdentifier 27561034 /api/publicationidentifier/27561034 PlainSource 3 /api/publicationsource/3 PublicationSourceType 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mtid="10018723"><a href="/gui2/?type=authors&mode=browse&sel=10018723" target="_blank">Zachar István ✉ (<span class="authorship-author-name">Zachar István</span> <span class="authorAux-mtmt"> Evolúcióbiológia</span>) </a> </span> <span class="author-affil"><span title="HUN-REN Ökológiai Kutatóközpont">HUN-REN ÖK</span>/Evolúciótudományi Intézet; <span title="Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem">ELTE</span>/<span title="Természettudományi Kar">TTK</span>/<span title="Biológiai Intézet">Bio_I</span>/Növényrendszertani, Ökológiai és Elméleti Biológiai Tanszék</span> ;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="author-name" mtid="10095388"><a href="/gui2/?type=authors&mode=browse&sel=10095388" target="_blank">Máté Jakab ✉ (<span class="authorship-author-name">Máté Jakab</span> <span class="authorAux-mtmt"> Bioinformatika, Evolúcióbiológia, Mikrobiális M...</span>) </a> </span> <span class="author-affil"><span title="HUN-REN Ökológiai Kutatóközpont">HUN-REN ÖK</span>/Evolúciótudományi Intézet; <span title="Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem">ELTE</span>/<span title="Természettudományi Kar">TTK</span>/<span title="Biológiai Intézet">Bio_I</span>/Növényrendszertani, Ökológiai és Elméleti Biológiai Tanszék</span> ;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="author-name" mtid="10019188"><a href="/gui2/?type=authors&mode=browse&sel=10019188" target="_blank">Számadó Szabolcs (<span class="authorship-author-name">Számadó Szabolcs</span> <span class="authorAux-mtmt"> Elméleti biológia, ökológia</span>) </a> </span> <span class="author-affil"><span title="Budapesti Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem">BME</span>/<span title="Gazdaság- és Társadalomtudományi Kar">GTK</span>/Szociológia és Kommunikáció Tanszék; <span title="HUN-REN Társadalomtudományi Kutatóközpont">HUN-REN TK</span>/Lendület Recens Kutatócsoport</span> </div> </div> <div class="title"><a href="/gui2/?mode=browse&params=publication;35425884" target="_blank">Tautology explains evolution without variation and selection. A Comment on: 'An evolutionary process without variation and selection' (2021), by Gabora et al.</a></div> <div> <span class="journal-title">JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY INTERFACE</span> <span class="journal-issn">(<a target="_blank" href="https://portal.issn.org/resource/ISSN/1742-5689">1742-5689</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://portal.issn.org/resource/ISSN/1742-5662">1742-5662</a>)</span>: <span class="journal-volume">21</span> <span class="journal-issue">218</span> <span class="page"> Paper 20230579. 5 p. </span> <span class="year">(2024)</span> </div> <div class="pub-footer"> <span class="language" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/html">Nyelv: Angol | </span> <span class="identifiers"> <span class="id identifier oa_GOLD" title=" Gold "> <a style="color:blue" title="10.1098/rsif.2023.0579" target="_blank" href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2023.0579"> DOI </a> </span> <span class="id identifier oa_none" title="none"> <a style="color:blue" title="001315117400001" target="_blank" href="https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/001315117400001"> WoS </a> </span> <span class="id identifier oa_GOLD" title=" Gold "> <a style="color:black" title="225267" target="_blank" href="http://real.mtak.hu/225267"> REAL </a> </span> <span class="id identifier oa_none" title="none"> <a style="color:blue" title="85204513167" target="_blank" href="http://www.scopus.com/record/display.url?origin=inward&eid=2-s2.0-85204513167"> Scopus </a> </span> <span class="id identifier oa_none" title="none"> <a style="color:black" title="39291495" target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=39291495&dopt=Abstract"> PubMed </a> </span> </span> <div class="mtid"><span class="long-pub-mtid">Közlemény: 35425884</span> | <span class="status-data status-ADMIN_APPROVED"> Admin láttamozott </span> Forrás | <span class="type-subtype">Folyóiratcikk ( Hozzászólás, helyreigazítás ) </span> | <span class="pub-category">Tudományos</span> | <span class="publication-sourceOfData">WOS TAGGED</span> </div> <div class="funder"> MTA Bolyai János Research Scholarship(BO/00570/22/8) </div> <div class="lastModified">Utolsó módosítás: 2025.09.26. 11:43 Ribai Richárdné (ÖK ÖBI admin 5) </div> <div class="lockedBy">Központi kezelésű 2025.05.20. 17:53 Vándor Andrea (VA, admin) Lévayné Deseő Katalin (MTMT Központi admin) </div> <pre class="comment" style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"><u>Megjegyzés</u>: Funding Agency and Grant Number: Jnos Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Funding text: We are thankful to our reviewers for the creative comments and criticism.</pre> </div></div>