Many important transitions in evolution are associated with novel ways
of storing and transmitting information. The storage of information i
n DNA sequence, and its transmission through DNA replication, is a fun
damental hereditary system in all extant organisms, but it is not the
only way of storing and transmitting information, and has itself repla
ced, and evolved from, other systems. A system that transmits informat
ion can have limited heredity or indefinite heredity. With limited her
edity, the number of different possible types is commensurate with, or
below, that of the individuals. With indefinite heredity, the number
of possible types greatly exceeds the number of individuals in any rea
listic system. Recent findings suggest that the emergence and subseque
nt evolution of very different hereditary systems, from autocatalytic
chemical cycles to natural language, accompanied the major evolutionar
y transitions in the history of life.