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岩石会进化吗？

一位同事问我："地球历史上某个时间点Y时，矿物X是否已经存在？"他正在为矿物学加上一个时间轴。

由此引出了"矿物进化"的想法。所谓"矿物进化"，就是从最初在太阳系形成早期阶段只出现了几十种矿物——这些矿物构成了行星，继而增加到100种，再到300种、800种、3000种，后来生命出现后，又催生出另外3000种矿物。

这就是进化：多样性的增加，形式（或模式）的增多，复杂程度的提升。它具备我们在生命起源和演化中所见到的所有特征。实际上，两者是共同进化的，因为矿物促进了生命的出现，而生命又反过来推动了矿物的发展。

因此，不仅是矿物与生命，各种系统都是共同进化的——包括海洋、大气、行星运作方式、技术、艺术、语言，以及其他各种领域。换句话说，"进化"是一个适用于有机和无机系统的概念。

1 矿物进化联想

当"矿物进化"这一想法第一次在我脑海中出现时，我想："天呐，生物与非生物系统之间竟然存在某种关联。"我们声称这种关联是存在的，因为所有这些系统——所有这些不断演化的系统——在概念层面都有三个至关重要的共同点。

2 演化系统的三个特征

首先，系统中包含了大量相互作用的组成部分。它们可能是原子和分子，也可能是细胞或基因，也可能是乐谱中的音符或书页上的文字，甚至是计算机代码。这些不同的系统都可以以组合方式呈现出数量庞大的排列，拥有极其广阔的潜在配置空间。

其次，必须有某种途径来生成这些不同的配置。可能是地球在混合原子和分子，或者生命在产生新的基因组合，或者作曲家在谱写新的音符组合。

第三，需要有一种选择机制。那么，究竟在选择什么？

达尔文的观点是"适者生存"，即能将基因传递给下一代。这对生命而言确实如此。

但在矿物界，选择的标准是"稳定性"——不熔化、不溶解、不被风化。

在音乐的例子中，选择的标准就是能否让人们去购买你的唱片；在数以百万计的歌曲当中，可能只有少数作品能登上排行榜冠军。这就源于一种选择机制的存在。

3 共同进化的宇宙

因此，这些相互交织的系统是一种连续体，都是协同进化的。这不仅仅是生命，而是整个"世界"——整个体系都在演化，我们仍然是这庞大而振奋人心的宇宙进化过程的一部分。

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. You start with just a few dozen minerals that form planets in the earliest stage of our solar system, then 100 minerals, then 300 minerals, then 800 minerals, and 3,000 minerals. When life comes along, it makes another 3,000 minerals. That's evolution—an increase in diversity, patterning, and complexity. All of the same characteristics we see in the origin and evolution of life. Indeed, it's co-evolving because minerals helped trigger life, and life helps trigger minerals.

So, the co-evolution of all these systems is not just about minerals and life but also oceans, atmospheres, planets, technology, the arts, language, and many 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." We claim this is true because all of these evolving systems are conceptually equivalent in three absolutely critical ways.

First, you have lots of interacting components. They could be atoms and molecules, cells or genes, musical notes or words on a page, or even computer code. These different systems can be arranged in combinatorially huge numbers of ways, creating a vast potential configuration space.

The second thing is you have to have some way to generate a bunch of those configurations. This could be Earth mixing up atoms and molecules, life generating new combinations of genes, or composers creating new arrangements of notes on a page.

Third, there has to be a mechanism for selection. 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 about being stable—you don't melt, dissolve, or weather away. In the case of music, it means that people buy your records. Out of every million songs written, maybe only a handful become number one hits on the charts. That's because of a selection mechanism.

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 are still part of that incredible, inspiring evolution of our cosmos.