. . . But when some of these chemicals contact water they form spherical globules called "coacervates", which can be up to 0.01cm (0.004 inches) across.
If you watch coacervates under a microscope, they behave unnervingly like living cells. They grow and change shape, and sometimes divide into two. They can also take in chemicals from the surrounding water, so life-like chemicals can become concentrated inside them. Oparin proposed that coacervates were the ancestors of modern cells. . . . — BBC, Michael Marshall
Every single person who died before Darwin published Origin of Species in 1859 was ignorant of humanity's origins, because they knew nothing of evolution. But everyone alive now, barring isolated groups, can know the truth about our kinship with other animals.
Similarly, everyone born after Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth in 1961 has lived in a society that can travel to other worlds. Even if we never go ourselves, space travel is a reality.
These facts change our worldview in subtle ways. Arguably, they make us wiser. Evolution teaches us to treasure every other living thing, for they are our cousins. Space travel allows us to see our world from a distance, revealing how unique and fragile it is.
Some of the people alive today will become the first in history who can honestly say they know where they came from. They will know what their ultimate ancestor was like and where it lived.
This knowledge will change us. On a purely scientific level, it will tell us about how likely life is to form in the Universe, and where to look for it. And it will tell us something about life's essential nature. But beyond that, we cannot yet know the wisdom the origin of life will reveal.
Before the 1800s, most people believed in "vitalism". This is the intuitive idea that living things were endowed with a special, magical property that made them different from inanimate objects.
The chemicals of life can all be made from simpler chemicals that have nothing to do with life
Vitalism was often bound up with cherished religious beliefs. The Bible says that God used "the breath of life" to animate the first humans, and the immortal soul is a form of vitalism.
There is just one problem. Vitalism is plain wrong.
By the early 1800s, scientists had discovered several substances that seemed to be unique to life. One such chemical was urea, which is found in urine and was isolated in 1799.
This was still, just, compatible with vitalism. Only living things seemed to be able to make these chemicals, so perhaps they were infused with life energy and that was what made them special.
But in 1828, the German chemist Friedrich Wöhler found a way to make urea from a common chemical called ammonium cyanate, which had no obvious connection with living things. Others followed in his footsteps, and it was soon clear that the chemicals of life can all be made from simpler chemicals that have nothing to do with life.
This was the end of vitalism as a scientific concept. But people found it profoundly hard to let go of the idea. For many, saying that there is nothing "special" about the chemicals of life seemed to rob life of its magic, to reduce us to mere machines.
Every single person who died before Darwin published Origin of Species in 1859 was ignorant of humanity's origins, because they knew nothing of evolution. But everyone alive now, barring isolated groups, can know the truth about our kinship with other animals. — Wayfarer
For now that debate looks set to rumble on. But it will not be decided on a whim. The decision will be driven by the chemistry and the protocells. If it turns out that one of the scenarios is missing a key chemical, or contains something that destroys protocells, it will be ruled out.
This means that, for the first time in history, we have the beginnings of a comprehensive explanation for how life began.
Every single person who died before Darwin published Origin of Species in 1859 was ignorant of humanity's origins, because they knew nothing of evolution. But everyone alive now, barring isolated groups, can know the truth about our kinship with other animals. — Wayfarer
We thus find that the Darwinian theory, even when carried out to its extreme logical conclusion, not only does not oppose, but lends a decided support to, a belief in the spiritual nature of man. It shows us how man's body may have been developed from that of a lower animal form under the law of natural selection; but it also teaches us that we possess intellectual and moral faculties which could not have been so developed, but must have had another origin; and for this origin we can only find an adequate cause in the unseen universe of Spirit. — Alfred Russel Wallace
Vitalism is plain wrong.
...
In 1828, the German chemist Friedrich Wöhler found a way to make urea from a common chemical called ammonium cyanate, which had no obvious connection with living things. Others followed in his footsteps, and it was soon clear that the chemicals of life can all be made from simpler chemicals that have nothing to do with life.
Wallace agreed with Darwin on the biological principle of natural selection, but he didn't believe it accounted for human intellectaual and moral factulties. — Wayfarer
How does the fact that human beings can produce certain chemicals essential to life prove that these chemicals can be produced without life? That conclusion requires the unstated premise that anything a man can produce, can be produced without man. This implies that all the products manufactured by human beings could have come into existence without the existence of life, just because we build them out of naturally occurring elements. It's truly unbelievable to think that computers and airplanes could have come into existence on earth without the presence of life — Metaphysician Undercover
"Every single person who died before Darwin published Origin of Species in 1859 was ignorant of humanity's origins, because they knew nothing of evolution." — Wayfarer
People are attributing that quotation to me, but I was quoting a passage from the BBC article that was the subject of the original post. And, hey, Lamarck's not done for yet - he passed some of his characteristics on to later generations — Wayfarer
But the point of naturalism is to try to explain things without the use of other-worldy, "supernatural" forces. There is no supernaturalism required to explain the existence of planes - humans created them. All x must come from not-x. So far so good. So "LIFE" cannot come from life. It had to start somewhere. And so Life came from non-Life. And yet what is this non-Life? — darthbarracuda
The naturalist will say it came from inorganic matter. The supernaturalist will say it came from something else, like a god or something. But this is a clear case of simple ignorance. Naturalism doesn't have to know everything, it merely has to say "I don't know" and try its best to figure it out. Whereas alternatives are simply god-of-the-gaps arguments. — darthbarracuda
Lamarck's not done for yet - he passed some of his characteristics on to later generations ;). — Wayfarer
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