The Law of Recursion as the Structural Mechanics of Evolution: Hominin Specialization, Trait Fixation, and the Emergence of Recursive Consciousness

Paper 4 of 8: The Law of Recursion Applied Across Domains — Don L. Gaconnet, LifePillar Institute for Recursive Sciences
This paper applies the Law of Recursion to evolutionary biology, providing the structural mechanics that Darwinian theory has lacked. Darwin specified what survives the filter (selection) but not how variation is generated at the architectural level. The Modern Synthesis added genetics but treats mutation as stochastic. The Law of Recursion fills this gap: it specifies the structural mechanics by which evolutionary change is generated, not merely filtered.

Applied to 250,000 years of hominin evolution, the law explains: (1) why multiple concurrent lineages coexisted as recursive branches under different membrane conditions; (2) why interbreeding events produced measurable architectural modifications; (3) why symbolic cognition emerged singularly in H. sapiens after sufficient recursive traversals; (4) why lineages that failed to achieve coupling underwent recursion failure and extinction.
Four falsifiable predictions are derived and confirmed against existing paleontological and genomic evidence. The Law of Recursion provides the generating mechanism that evolution has always required.
Author: Don L. Gaconnet | ORCID: 0009-0001-6174-8384 | DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/MVYZT

Keywords:

law of recursion, evolution, evolutionary mechanics, hominin evolution, speciation, trait fixation, recursive consciousness, Homo sapiens, Neanderthal, Denisovan, natural selection, seven-node topology, rewriting principle, cognitive revolution, paleoanthropology, recursive sciences, Don Gaconnet

Categories:
Evolution, Theoretical Biology, Paleoanthropology, Philosophy of Science, Complex Dynamical Systems