Evolution Isn’t Enough

Though a powerful theory, evolution continues to face strong headwinds from people who question its ability to fully explain the complex structure of the universe.  What’s missing is the ability to completely explain how hierarchy develops.

The universe uses hierarchy to reach high levels of complexity. From the simplest quantum particles to the most complex organisms (humans), there are hierarchical lines of demarcation:

• Quantum matter organized into atomic and elemental matter. 
• Atomic and elemental matter organized into complex molecules. 
• Complex molecules organized into unicellular life.
• Unicellular life organized into multi-cellular life
• Multi-cellular life organized bodies with specialized organs
•  Bodies with specialized organs organized into humans

What differentiates hierarchical levels are the ways the components interact.  Take the example of life.  Living matter and non-living matter are composed of the same chemicals.  Life is formed when non-living components interact in a specific way that we call life.  Explaining how the universe developed requires understanding how the universe builds new interactions.  The “emergent process” (or “emergence”) describes the building of new interactions which complements the evolutionary process.  Evolution is the universal experimental process; consisting of small structural changes. Emergence leads to selection criteria that decide which changes endure and which ones fail.  Selection criteria are derived from emergence, not from evolution.

While we don’t understand how life emerged, we can make educated guesses. At its core, life consists of two major parts - energy transformation and reproduction.  Visualize the primordial soup where membranes (cells) surrounded different chemical mixes.  In some cells, an RNA-like chemical evolved and, in other cells, photosynthesis (energy transformation) evolved.  To make a living thing, these two cells types came together.  The odds of these two cell-types even evolving are small but the chances of these two cell-types evolving within the same cell are infinitesimal.  It is more likely that an emergent process “merged” these two cell types together, creating a living cell.  A living cell is nothing like either of the separate cells.  It isn't magic, but it isn't evolutionary either.

Let’s stay with the life example to discuss how new interactions leads to new selection criteria.

Extending the example above, a living organism uses energy to power its reproductive system.  That energy is produced from sunlight, a limited resource.  Energy efficient organisms succeed because they reproduce more and crowd out less efficient organisms.  A new selection criterion was formed when a new interaction, pairing energy formation with reproduction, required a limited resource. After living things are created, biological evolution, via genetic mutation, takes over. Eventually, a new emergent event creates a new type of interaction – for example, multi-cellular or more specialized organisms.  In this manner a new selection criteria forms and the hierarchy develops.

While it’s tempting to assign emergence to an Intelligent Designer, it’s too early to make that determination.  Throughout history, processes that were deemed too complex to occur “naturally” were assigned to an Intelligent Designer, only to be reversed upon further knowledge. 

Evolution is an incomplete description of how the universe unfolds. Only by pairing the evolutionary process with the emergent process does one get the complete picture.