Can the Pattern of Evolution Be Applied to Non-biological Things?

Biologists and ecologists generally understand evolution as a phenomenon that typically applies to organisms. Organisms reproduce offspring, these offspring show differences (variation), and each offspring has a unique performance and chance of surviving in its environment, alone or in interaction with others (selection). Those that survive have a chance to reproduce again. All these aspects have been brought together in the evolution cycle, a pattern based on underlying processes that organisms carry out or are affected by. As long as organisms are the actors, the terminology used is biological. And while the extended synthesis broadens the scope, it is still about organisms or parts of organisms. However, there are many things that are not organisms or parts of organisms, but which can still be considered to be evolving in one way or another. A well-known example is the covid virus. In this chapter we discuss seven types of non-biological entities that may or may not evolve.