Ancient people, who were herders or farmers, knew first hand about the breeding of animals and plants, which is the foundation of the theory of evolution.
Anyone who was successful as a farmer or herder would see the trends that we now call evolution. The thesis of Darwin was not new. It existed, in essence, from the start of civilization. Darwin was a city boy who may have forgotten what the average rural farmer knew. Darwin thought that hearing the old song, for the first time, made it new to him. Science, in general, was also off the farm, and when they heard the old song, it was like a new song to them.
Evolution does not deal with the creation of life on earth from scratch. Darwin dealt exclusively with reproduction from existing life, and the changes that occur between generations. The formation of life from scratch is the subject of a different branch of science, called Abiogenesis. This name is a derivative of Genesis. Neither are the same as evolution, since neither start with viable life that already reproduces.
Both theories; Genesis and Abiogenesis form life from scratch. They are similar in that neither path has been demonstrated in the lab. Then differ in that Science use a god of random. This random god assumption, allows them to assume anything, but not on demand. While religion uses a god of willpower, order and reason. But in both cases, neither have successfully reproduced the original experiment of life, starting with their nothing and their respective god.
I agreed with everything you said about Evolution is not about the origin of life “from scratch”.
But I disagree with saying about Abiogenesis “Then they differ in that Science use a god of random”.
Abiogenesis isn’t a religion, and has no “god” that personified as “random”.
Has Abiogenesis replicated life in the lab?
I would agree with you, and say “no”, but some experiments (eg Miller-Urey experiment, 1952) have successfully replicated organic matters (amino acids) from inorganic matters (methane (CH
4), ammonia (NH
3), hydrogen gas (H
2) and water (H
2O)), and by applying heat and electricity (to simulate lightnings) to cause a catalytic reaction.
Other experiments have used other different chemical compounds. Trying to simulate conditions where it is possible for amino acids to occur naturally.
For example, one experiment trying to simulate the environment of a young Earth, where there was no oxygen in the atmosphere at that time, but more carbon dioxide (CO
2), hydrogen sulfide (H
2S), sulfur dioxide (SH
2) and nitrogen gas (N
2), which would be more common with global environment affected by frequent volcanic activities. This experiment also produced successful results, in producing amino acids.
There are over a hundred different types of amino acids, of which 22 of these are essential compounds that are natural occurring and needed as building blocks for different types of proteins.
Proteins are one of essential biological compounds needed for life. Without amino acids, there can be no proteins.
Different amino acids produce different structures and different functions of proteins.
Nucleic acids, like RNA & DNA, are essential as well, in life, but so are proteins, since for instance, in a human body, since 20 to 22 percent of our masses are made out of proteins, RNA only make up 1%, and DNA is even less than that 0.1% of our mass.
Organic matters, such as proteins, DNA and RNA may not be “alive”, but they are essential parts of all life, including humans.
Without amino acids, there are no proteins. Without proteins, there would be no tissues (eg muscles, nerves), no various organs, no catalyzing metabolic reactions, etc. The blood plasma in our bodies also contained proteins.
Even DNA required proteins to replicate DNA.
This is one of the reasons why amino acids are so important in Abiogenesis experiments. Amino acids are just important as DNA.
- Is amino acid a living organism? No. It is essential compounds in proteins.
- Is amino acid essential for life? Most definitely, yes.