Mineral Evolution: Co-evolving Systems and Complexity

Mineral evolution parallels life evolution in diversity, patterning, and complexity, co-evolving and integrated in a continuum of evolving systems.

### The Co-evolution of Minerals and Life
* 🌌  Mineral evolution is a concept that traces the **increasing diversity and complexity of minerals** over Earth's history, from the early solar system to the present day.
* 🪶  Initially, there were only a few dozen minerals present during the formation of planets, but this number has increased to **over 5,000** due to various geological and biological processes.
* 🧪  The evolution of minerals is similar to biological evolution, with both systems exhibiting **increasing diversity, patterning, and complexity over time**.
* 🌱  Minerals and life are interconnected, with minerals potentially playing a role in the **origin of life**, and life subsequently influencing **mineral formation**.
* 🔄  The concept of mineral evolution highlights the **co-evolution of living and non-living systems** on Earth, including oceans, atmospheres, and technology.
* 🔬  The three critical components of evolving systems are **interacting components**, **generation of configurations**, and a **mechanism for selection**.
* 🏆  In the case of minerals, the selection mechanism is based on **stability**, while in biological systems, it is often related to **reproduction and passing on genetic information**.
* 🌌  This interconnected evolution of all systems, from minerals to life to culture, reflects the **ongoing evolution of the cosmos itself**.

A colleague asked me, Was Mineral 'X' around at
time 'Y' in Earth history? He's putting a time axis on mineralogy, and this led to the idea of- Mineral evolution, where you start with just a few dozen minerals that form planets in the earliest
stage of our solar system, to a hundred minerals, then 300
minerals, then 800 minerals, and 3,000 minerals, and
then life comes along, and it makes another 3,000 minerals- that's evolution. An increase in diversity, an increase in patterning,
and increase in complexity. All of the same characteristics
that we see in the origin and evolution of life, and
indeed it's co-evolving 'cause minerals helped trigger life, but then life helps trigger minerals. So the co-evolution of all these systems, and not just minerals in life,
but oceans and atmospheres, and the way planets work
and technology and the arts

and language and all
sorts of other domains. When the idea of mineral
evolution first hit me, I said, Gee, there's a
connection here between living and non-living systems, and we claim this is true because all of these systems,
all these evolving systems, are conceptually equivalent in three absolutely critical ways. First, you have lots of
interacting components. They could be atoms and molecules; they could be cells or genes; they could be musical
notes or words on a page; or even computer code- and those different
systems can be arranged in combinatorially huge numbers of ways, vast potential configuration space. Now, the second thing is
you have to have some way to generate a bunch of
those configurations, either Earth mixing up
atoms and molecules, or life generating new
combinations of genes, or composers creating new
arrangements of notes on a page. And then number three, there has to be a mechanism for selection.

Now, what do you select for? Darwin said, It's
survival of the fittest. It's passing your genes
onto the next generation, and that's true for life, but in minerals, it's being stable. It means you don't melt,
you don't dissolve, you don't weather away. In the case of music, it means
that people buy your records. Of every million songs that's written, maybe only a handful become, you know, number one hits on the charts. That's because of a selection mechanism. So this is a continuum of
co-evolving, integrated systems. It's not just life,
it's the whole shebang. The whole thing is evolving, and we still are part of that incredible, inspiring evolution of our cosmos.

The mindblowing way rocks “survive” and evolve | Robert Hazen

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The Evolution of Mineral Diversity and its Co-evolution with Life

Mineral evolution follows a pattern of increasing diversity, complexity, and patterning, similar to the evolution of life.

The co-evolution of minerals and life is characterized by the mutual triggering of each other's development.

This co-evolution extends to other systems such as oceans, atmospheres, planets, technology, and the arts.

Mineral evolution is connected to living and non-living systems through interacting components and vast potential configuration space.

It involves the generation of new configurations and requires a mechanism for selection, similar to biological evolution.

This concept applies to various domains, including music, literature, and computer science.

The Evolutionary Process of Survival and Success

In the world of minerals, survival means stability and resistance to environmental factors.

In the music industry, only a few songs out of millions become chart-topping hits due to a selective mechanism.

This reflects a continuum of co-evolving systems across various aspects of life and the cosmos.