ICANT writes:
So where did the information come from that caused the mutation?
If the source of information is external to the organism, radiation, viruses and mutagenic chemicals are the most common.
I can understand how the reduction of information could happen.
But not how it could increase as new information would need to be coded. There is no known natural process for this to happen.
What's unnatural about the things I mentioned? What's unnatural about chemistry?
The mutations are changes in information, and therefore, by definition, new information. There can be environmental input in their cause, as I explained above.
However, the really important input of information from the environment is in the selection process. It is this that causes a mutation that happens to improve function to go to fixation across a population.
So, what's necessary to add "coded information", as you describe it, is an information rich environment.
A planet with a wide range of ever changing environments will input a great deal of information into varying chemical self-replicators.
We live on such a planet. Information is all around us, ready to be absorbed.
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