# Molecular Evolution **Domain:** Evolution / Genomics / Historical Inference **Doc Type:** Canonical Discipline Node **Maturity:** Foundational ## Definition **Molecular evolution** studies evolutionary change in DNA, RNA and proteins and uses molecular variation to infer relationships, population history, selection and divergence. ## Nexus Context [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley]] treats molecular evolution as the point where the genome becomes both inherited mechanism and historical archive. The field made evolutionary reconstruction computational at a scale impossible from morphology alone. Its inference is model-dependent. Mutation rates vary, recombination complicates genealogies and different genomic regions can have different histories. The discipline's strength lies in quantifying those uncertainties rather than treating sequence as a transparent transcript of the past. ## Continuity Context Molecular descent can establish biological relatedness and provenance. It does not encode a whole person or prove conscious continuity. This separation is foundational for post-biological identity claims. ## Sources / Provenance - UC Berkeley, molecular-evolution history: https://www.berkeley.edu/about/history-discoveries/ - Joseph Felsenstein, _Inferring Phylogenies_, 2004. ## See Also [[wiki/Molecular Clock|Molecular Clock]], [[wiki/Comparative Genomics|Comparative Genomics]], [[wiki/Population Genetics|Population Genetics]], [[wiki/Proof of Descent|Proof of Descent]]