Leading Evolutionist Claims Rocks Evolve by Natural Selection
If the transition from chemistry to
biology remains elusive, the theory
must expand to absorb the chemistry
First the Ribosome, Now the Rocks
In our previous analysis of the “Selfish Ribosome,” we noted a growing trend among evolutionary theorists toward personification – ascribing a form of functional agency to pre-biotic molecular machines in an attempt to bridge the gap between inanimate matter and biological complexity.
But the expansion of evolutionary logic cannot stop at the gates of the cell. The framework is now being extended “downward” into the inorganic world, suggesting that the logic of selection was operational long before the first biological, or even quasi-biological, system ever appeared. A recent article in the Templeton Foundation’s Templeton Ideas series highlights the ongoing progress of this “Universal Evolution” model.
Evolution Before the Origin of Life? (Dyna Rochmyaningsih, John Templeton Foundation, 16 April 2026), Led by mineralogist Robert Hazen and proponents of the Law of Evolving Systems, this framework seeks to dissolve the traditional boundary between biology and geology.
This is not a sudden tactical shift, but rather a consistent application of evolutionary theory in light of the persistent difficulty of the origin-of-life problem. The argument is straightforward: if the transition from chemistry to biology remains elusive, the theory must expand to absorb the chemistry itself.
This is not novel. It was inevitable.
Evolution of the Gaps
The persistent failure of prebiotic chemistry to provide a mechanistic bridge to life has traditionally been treated as a simple “gap” in our knowledge. However, as Koonin’s selfish ribosome paper last week, and Robert Hazen’s law of evolving systems in this article demonstrate, these gaps are increasingly filled with a new kind of metaphysical mortar. The article explains:
Hazen is one of many scientists who are now proponents of ‘evolution before life,’ an idea referring to a universal chemical evolution that spans billions of years and comprises all possible space in the universe.
This is an evolution of the gaps: where empirical mechanisms (like replication and metabolism) are absent, the totalizing narrative expands to cover the mystery.
As we saw last week, if the ribosome is too complex to be a stochastic accident, it is reimagined as an “agent” with its own interests. Now, if minerals lack a biological drive, the universe is granted a “Second Arrow of Time” that mandates an increase in order.
As a student of philosophy, I see this inflation of scientific law as the hallmark of a system-builder at work. In a striking parallel to the work of Michael Levin, who grants “basal cognition” to tissues and cells, Hazen extends a similar logic to minerals and chemicals.
This is not irrationality; it is hyper-rationality, prioritizing rational structure over empirical reality. The tactic should be familiar to anyone critical of evolutionary storytelling. Theory trumps facts.
Hazen and his peers are discovering that the logic of a self-creating universe demands a metaphysics of purpose. They are essentially rediscovering Absolute Idealism, forcing the empirical world to bow to a pre-conceived rational requirement for progress.
The Equivocation of “Selection”
To maintain this facade of continuity, Hazen’s system relies on a massive linguistic expansion of the word “selection.” In the biological world, selection is a mechanical process requiring high-fidelity replication, a metabolic engine, and a feedback loop between genotype and phenotype. It is a process where information is filtered through the sieve of survival. Hazen, however, applies this same term to the mineral world, arguing that nature “selects” for stability or persistence in crystal structures.
This is a classic equivocation.
A rock that does not erode as quickly as its neighbor has not been “selected” in any evolutionary sense; it has simply persisted. By blurring this distinction, the law of evolving systems attempts to make the arrival of the ribosome look like the same rational inevitability as the formation of a quartz crystal. It is a move that values narrative symmetry over mechanistic rigor. As geobiologist Greg Fournier notes in the Templeton piece, biologists remain skeptical precisely because “mineral evolution” lacks heritable information:
…only biological evolution has a concrete form of heritable information in the process—a concept that chemists are still grappling with.
Without a mechanism to record and pass on the successes of a system, there is no evolution; there is only a sequence of independent events.
Iatrogenic Teleology and the “Second Arrow of Time”
Scientists might believe that nature exhibits no purpose. But “that’s not the way we experience the universe,” says Hazen.
This leads to a remarkable admission of what we might call “iatrogenic teleology.” In medicine, an iatrogenic condition is one induced by the healer’s own treatment. In this context, the irony is not that purpose is an illusion, but that the scientist’s own “treatment,” the attempt to maintain a secular narrative, forces him to re-brand the objective telos he finds in nature. By attempting to “cure” the void of a purposeless universe with a new natural law, Hazen inadvertently re-infects the system with the very teleology he and the 19th century’s methodological naturalism intended to replace.
Hazen’s “Second Arrow of Time,” as expressed in this article, is the most explicit manifestation of this. He acknowledges that function implies purpose – a concept that usually triggers an allergic reaction in the materialist community. Yet Hazen insists it is a necessary addition to our understanding of why the universe tends toward order rather than increasing entropy. Yes, we see systems winding down according to the first arrow of time,
[b]ut, says Hazen, we also see children being born, flower buds popping out from dried branches… This is the second arrow of time: an arrow of increasing order in the universe. “For me, science should explain this phenomenon.”
This is the hyper-rational pivot: Hazen discovers that a purely stochastic universe cannot account for the observable complexity of reality.
His solution is to build a secular telos – a purpose-driven universe that functions “as if” it were designed, while insisting that the designer is simply a newly discovered equation, or law. In doing so, Hazen follows the inner necessity of 19th century scientism to its inevitable end: an Absolute Idealism in which matter is merely a medium for a self-actualizing Law of Nature.
Absolute Idealism in the Laboratory
The synthesis of Robert Hazen’s mineralogy and Michael Levin’s bioelectrics reveals a scientific community that can no longer be satisfied with mere mechanics. It is reaching for a global agency, an Absolute Idealism where matter is mere medium for a self-actualizing “Mind” or “Law,” or more colorfully a Platonic Form. This is the ultimate outplay of the dialectical logic adopted two centuries ago: a system that began by choosing a logic and rejecting metaphysics has discovered that its logic demands a metaphysics.
Hazen and his peers are not stumbling into these conclusions through a lack of rigor. Rather, they are demonstrating a fierce commitment to rationality. When the “hard nut” of consciousness or the architectural precision of the ribosome cannot be explained by the collision of atoms, the hyper-rational response is not to look outside the system, but to grant the system itself the attributes of a Designer. They have “created” a universe that is becoming life by its own inherent necessity.
Conclusion: The Secular Telos
Ultimately, “Evolution Before the Origin of Life?” and the “Selfish Ribosome” are two sides of the same narrative coin. Whether it is an inanimate rock “selecting” for function or a molecule machine “striving” for survival, the result is a secular telos. By refusing to leave any gap in the continuity of emergence, these system-builders have been forced to reify the material process itself.
They are observing a reality that is fundamentally directional and ordered, yet they are constrained by the walls of methodological naturalism. Their only remaining move is to rename effects as causes. In their effort to maintain an unbroken narrative, they have traded the empirical for the ideal, proving that even in the most modern laboratories, the order of being cannot be suppressed. They see the purpose, they feel the direction, and they acknowledge the order.
They simply insist on calling it a “Missing Law.”
John Wise received his PhD in philosophy from the University of CA, Irvine in 2004. His dissertation was titled Sartre’s Phenomenological Ontology and the German Idealist Tradition. His area of specialization is 19th to early 20th century continental philosophy.
He tells the story of his 25-year odyssey from atheism to Christianity in the book, Through the Looking Glass: The Imploding of an Atheist Professor’s Worldview (available on Amazon). Since his return to Christ, his research interests include developing a Christian (YEC) philosophy of science and the integration of all human knowledge with God’s word.
He has taught philosophy for the University of CA, Irvine, East Stroudsburg University of PA, Grand Canyon University, American Intercontinental University, and Ashford University. He currently teaches online for the University of Arizona, Global Campus, and is a member of the Heterodox Academy. He and his wife Jenny are known online as The Christian Atheist with a podcast of that name, in addition to a YouTube channel: John and Jenny Wise.