Darwin and His Dangerous Idea

Evolution can be defined as "the gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form." A biological definition of evolution is that of a "population during successive generations, as a result of natural selection acting on genetic variation among individuals, and resulting in the development of new species" (dictionary.com).

According to these definitions, from the simplest to the most complex, it is obvious that evolution never even tries to account for the origin of life, but only explains what happens once life is present and capable of reproduction.

Life could have started in many ways, as there are numerous theories which strive to explain this phenomenon. Very few people may actually believe that the creation of life was purely due to chance.

As stated in the Campbell-Reece Biology 101 textbook (page 516), "most biologists favor the hypothesis that life on Earth developed from nonliving materials that became eventually capable of self-replication and metabolism." This abiogenetic view is definitely not due to chance, but rather favorable conditions and the presence of a certain advantage for the combination of nonliving materials to form living organisms. "In 1953, Stanley Miller and Harold Urey tested the Oparin-Haldane hypothesis" (page 518) which required certain "chemical conditions and energy sources for the abiotic synthesis of organic molecules (page 518). Their experiment consisted of a warm flask of water, which was to simulate the primeval sea. "The atmosphere consisted of water, hydrogen gas, ammonia, and methane. Sparks were discharged in the synthetic atmosphere to mimic lightning. A condenser cooled the atmosphere, raining water and any dissolved compounds back to the miniature sea. As material circulated through the apparatus, the solution in the flask changed from clear to murky brown. After one week, Miller and Urey analyzed the contents of the solution and found a variety of organic compounds, including some of the amino acids that make up the proteins of organisms." This experiment clearly proves the possibility of the production of life from energy and extremely simple atmospheric conditions.

Another scientific theory states the possibility of a meteor hitting a huge rock formation, thus splitting the rocks and producing the known planets. As meteors have been shown to contain bacteria in their crust and surface, life could have very possibly been generated in such a manner, through the development and evolution of the bacteria present on the meteor as it reached and populated the earth.

Furthermore, on page 490 of his book, Darwin says, "There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved."

Whether breathed into a few forms or one, different theories are presented on each. Though the further theory of individual creation is often acknowledged by the most strictly religious persons, they are also oftentimes the people found to be most ignorant as to the exact concepts and evidence of evolution. Nevertheless, the core idea of the 6-day creation is possible. Also, God is said by some to have picked two people, Adam and Eve, from the numerous other developed humans as to be the first to possess the souls which distinguish us from other beings.

However, evolution still proves to be variable and extremely probable. The accounts concerning the specific origin of all life are irrelevant in consideration to the purpose of the evolutionary theory. Darwin was not interested in how life came to exist on earth. He was merely proving how life forms, however minute and undeveloped, were able to reproduce and accumulate the various characteristics passed onto their various descendents throughout time. There is essentially no comparison between the scientific theory of evolution and any of the various 'ideas' of the origin of life. The two tend to work off each other as each only partially explains how everything we have come to know was produced and thus its minimally complete history.