Evolution as Constraint-Governed Continuation Growth: A Structural Interpretation of DNA in Temporal Rate Ontology

DNA is typically understood as a symbolic encoding of biochemical instructions subject to evolutionary selection. This paper proposes a structural reinterpretation within the framework of Temporal Rate Ontology (TRO), in which physical systems are described in terms of admissible continuation structures governed by the Principle of Maximal Freedom (PMF). We formalise DNA as a constraint operator acting on admissible biochemical continuations and introduce a finite-horizon continuation functional that quantifies viable future states under environmental filtering. Evolutionary selection is thereby interpreted as optimisation over constraint operators with respect to viable continuation multiplicity. The resulting framework defines a two-level selection structure: the PMF governs intra-trajectory continuation selection within a given constraint regime, while evolutionary dynamics select among constraint regimes across generations. We argue that this structure maps directly onto the distinction between MLS1 and MLS2 in Okasha’s (2006) multilevel selection framework, and that the Lewontin (1970) conditions for natural selection are recoverable within it. A minimal branching model yields an exact gain condition (Proposition 3) characterising when constraint operators become evolutionarily advantageous. Fitness is recovered as a coarse-grained projection of viable continuation multiplicity. The framework does not replace neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory but offers a structural reinterpretation that is continuous with existing philosophy of biology literature on levels of selection and the units of selection problem.