  Mixed microbial communities, usually composed of various bacterial and fungal
species, are fundamental in a plethora of environments, from soil to human gut
and skin. Their evolution is a paradigmatic example of intertwined dynamics,
where not just the relations among species plays a role, but also the
opportunities -- and possible harms -- that each species presents to the
others. These opportunities are in fact \textit{affordances}, which can be
seized by heritable variation and selection. In this paper, starting from a
systemic viewpoint of mixed microbial communities, we focus on the pivotal role
of affordances in evolution and we contrast it to the artificial evolution of
programs and robots. We maintain that the two realms are neatly separated, in
that natural evolution proceeds by extending the space of its possibilities in
a completely open way, while the latter is inherently limited by the
algorithmic framework it is defined. This discrepancy characterises also an
envisioned setting in which robots evolve in the physical world. We present
arguments supporting our claim and we propose an experimental setting for
assessing our statements. Rather than just discussing the limitations of the
artificial evolution of machines, the aim of this contribution is to emphasize
the tremendous potential of the evolution of the biosphere, beautifully
represented by the evolution of communities of microbes.
