The Shadow Hypothesis: Informational Exclusion as the Driver of Abiogenesis

Abstract The origin of life remains a profound scientific mystery. Traditional models emphasize constructive processes-autocatalysis, compartmentalization, and polymerization-where new structures emerge and persist. The Shadow Hypothesis reframes abiogenesis as driven by exclusion, where feedback-induced reductions in accessible chemical state space, termed “shadows,” shape trajectories toward persistence and organization. Shadows are persistent, feedback-reinforced exclusions, distinct from transient kinetic bottlenecks, and leave measurable signatures in redundancy and causal emergence. We formalize this using information-theoretic and dynamical systems tools, deriving the critical shadow threshold θc ≈ ε / [H(t)(λ − η)]from a chemical Master equation via stochastic differential equation (SDE) approximations , robust to chaotic prebiotic conditions. This revision enhances stability analysis, scales simulations to realistic state spaces, and integrates peer-reviewed informational phase transitions [Wong, 2025]. Falsifiable tests via microfluidics and JWST proxies are proposed, including entropy mapping and spectroscopic detection. Shadows bridge constructive and exclusionary perspectives, providing a quantitative, predictive framework for abiogenesis.