Evo Devo Universe? A Framework for Thinking About the Future

Biological systems evolve, and they also develop. These two processes are very different, but they are both necessary for life and intelligence to exist. While evolution (“evo”) is famously unpredictable, many aspects of development (“devo”) are quite predictable. For example, if you have a sense of what stage a developing system is at in its ‘replication’ cycle (birth, growth, reproduction, aging, or recycling), you have a pretty good idea what stage is coming next. Organic molecules also evolve and replicate/develop. So do stars, and their dependent planets. In fact, that’s how our own life-generating solar system came to exist, through a long process of stellar “evolutionary development” (reproduction of progressively more chemically complex solar systems) in our galaxy. Ideas or ‘memes,’ which replicate between human brains, also evolve and develop. So do technologies, which replicate in cultures. There is some evidence that even our universe itself may replicate, evolve, and develop, if you believe some of the new cosmologists. Finally, the always-accelerating pace of change that we have seen in both life and human history may not only be evolutionary and unpredictable in its specifics, but also probable and predictable in its generalities, if it is a process of universal development. This is like saying that though we can’t predict which particular computer manufacturer or design will be on top of the market in ten years, we can predict (for reasons we’ll skip here)

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