Single-Chain Persistence Theory I: The Persistence Chain — From Genes to Memes (A Unified Inductive Framework from the Origin of Earth Life to Human Civilization)

Abstract

We present Volume I of the Single-Chain Persistence Theory (SCPT-I): the evolutionary history of Earth life can be uniformly summarized as the persistence of a host-transiting information structure — the persistence chain — carried successively by genes (since ~4.0 Ga) and by meme systems (since the emergence of nervous systems). Hosts may transit: from nucleic acids to multicellular tissues, thence to nervous systems, and finally, via external transcription organs (the vocal apparatus and the hand), to exosomatic carriers bearing transcription products — symbols. We give operational definitions of the chain and of the on-chain criteria, and do three things. First, physical grounding: persistence is placed rigorously within non-equilibrium thermodynamics — the default fate of information distance is decay (Lindblad monotonicity), while persistence is the exceptional, free-energy-paid countercurrent; the “direction of the chain” is thereby disambiguated into three non-confusable senses (cosmic, biotic, axiological). Second, the gene-line test: using measured DNA replication fidelities (error rates of 10 ⁹–10 ¹ per base ⁻ ⁻ ⁰ per generation), we perform the first quantitative demonstration of the criteria, and argue — via the teleonomy distinction — that persistence is physical and statistical, not volitional. Third, the meme line and the Meme Revolution: memes are information-processing systems at the level of nervous-system architecture (classified by brain science; a five-system working taxonomy grounded in individualized parcellation and the somato-cognitive action network is proposed), while symbols are transcription products (classified as physical information, formalized as a triple (φ, A, P)); the iteration of external symbol systems is the one difference between the human branch and all other gene–meme branches that time cannot erode — this Meme Revolution is the strict boundary of human uniqueness in the Volume-I theory. The paper is inductive and makes no predictions, but states explicit falsification conditions; predictive applications and cosmological extrapolation are deferred to Volume III (SCPT-III).v3.4 (2026-08-01) — erratum and supplement release: corrects references [7] and [33], adds an author prior-work anchor and peer-review status note to [64], and supplements §7.5 with four per-work demarcation statements; no changes to any theoretical claim, criterion, or falsification condition relative to v3.3