So how did life really begin? For those who believe in evolution...?

Question

I am wondering when life began? I'm guessing it started as a small living organism of some sort but where did that small living organism come from? It had to come from something else that was living, right?

Answer 1

The origin of life is a separate issue from evolution. Evolution works on living organisms - but they have to be alive first :)

The most accepted view is that The oceans of a young Earth were chemical rich - the proverbial "primordial soup". By pure chance, a number of these elements combined (presumably coinciding with an input of energy such as lightning or sudden geothermal release) to form a hyper-molecule that was effectively the precursor of modern DNA. This first "entity" most likely wasn't alive, it was simply a collection of molecules. Over time, other molecules nerged with the structure, it developed the ability to replicate itself... and what you see today is the result.

Incidently, this scenario has been recreated experimentally in the lab.

Answer 2

you probably think that snow must come from something white, yeah?

life is not a fundamental property of matter, just as whiteness is not a fundamental property of matter. life is a process that matter can undergo. defining life seems to be rather tricky, but it seems you need at least three things - a container, such as a cell membrane; the ability to reproduce, as provided by DNA; and a metabolism, to harvest energy and matter for maintenance and reproduction. life happens when you get systems with those properties coupled together in the same place. systems with just some of those properties exist but are not properly alive - viruses can reproduce but have no container or metabolism. runaway chemical reactions like fire can be considered to have metabolism but no container or means of reproduction.

no one knows how the first life formed: the order of development of containers, reproduction and metabolism is debated, and it is quite possible that the system used by the first life is missing from modern life, superseded by something better - it seems fairly certain that RNA preceded DNA as the replicating molecule for example. geological evidence indicates that however it happened, life was probably on earth by about 3.5 - 4.0 billion years ago.

Answer 3

There are lots of speculations, and nothing yet to ground them on.

The best guess so far is that some form of simple self replicating organic molecule formed by chance from other organic molecules found naturally in space (which has been proven likely via computer simulation combined with lab experiments), and it all took off from there.

Answer 4

Look up abiogenesis and select sources written sometime in the past 20 years.
You might also try finding the fine definition of life. The distinction between living and dead materials is not anywhere as clear as you likely think it is.
Notice that I am not posting links.
If you have an interest, you are certainly smart enough to do your own research.
There is no shortage of honest material on this.
AiG is not an honest resource about this though.

Answer 5

The amazing thing is that as our knowledge of biology increases, each origin of life theory becomes impossible.

It isn't a case of the last theory standing, since none are standing anymore.

In the 50's there were those famous experiments that created amino acids in a test tube...even those are now rejected as providing any insight into origins of life. Certain amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, which are the building blocks of life. However, saying that this production of amino acids is the same as creating life is the same as giving me a chunk of steel and saying it's a car.

It is now well understood that mixing any chemicals in any environment will never yield life. It is scientifically impossible.

Thanks to excellent research, we understand our ignorance, and have lost our answers.

Answer 6

I have absolutely no clue where life came from.

But like I say in a lot of answers on here, just because I don't know... that's NO reason to jump to the conclusion that the fairytale stories of ANY religion are the least bit likely to be the truth. Every one of them is SOOOO far fetched and unbelievable.

Who planted that tree over there? Don't know? Well then if could only have been a group of three elves, one with red hair, one with blond hair, one with black hair. They planted it to shade them from the glowing fairy that kept following them around. We all have to eat walnuts every Tuesday in commemoration of the planting of that tree, or else the elves will cause our shoes to go missing. That's the only explanation, since we don't know any other way that the tree got there. Right?

Answer 7

Abiogenesis. The conditions became idyllic for life to spawn from a very complicated mixture of chemicals and matter, it formed into the first virus, then the first protein-based single-cell organism. It probably happened a thousand times before it succeeded in surviving long enough to replicate enough to evolve, and evolve it did. From small micro-organisms, to (as Trey parker put it) the retarded offspring of a retard-fish-monkey.

Answer 8

Abiogenesis and Evolution are two different things.

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/abioprob/

One experiment yielded amino acid chains in a chemical soup containing basic elements and heat that would have been present on an ancient Earth. So it stands to reason that life probably emerged as something extremely simple (not alive by our definition) with the capacity to copy itself.

Answer 9

I read an interesting theory that matter appeared out of a collision of energy. (Angels & Demons)
Now try to actually think about this. If something as complex as a creation deity could 'just exist', then why couldn't matter?

Answer 10

No. Reactions in the atmosphere created the first living cells. Pressure and such in the atmosphere reacted and created extremely basic life.

That's one theory. No one can actually be sure, but we can be sure that living material can be created using non living matter.