Evolution and Abiogenesis: Different, or the Same?
Although evolution and abiogenesis are two very important parts of the origins conversation, there is often some confusion about how these relate to one another.
Are they ultimately the same thing? Is there a distinction? What, if any, is the distinction? Do they relate to one another in some way?
These are important questions that we will attempt to answer as we go along. I would like to frame our discussion in terms of the two most common viewpoints with respect to this issue.
Typically, the creationist will make the mistake of conflating these concepts into one. They may say something like, “We know evolution didn’t happen because evolution cannot create life.” Because of its imprecision, as we’ll see, evolutionists take issue with this.
On the other hand, the evolutionist will say something like, “Abiogenesis is irrelevant to whether or not evolution occurred.” However, creationists take issue with this because it misses a crucial point.
Defining the TermsThe term “evolution” essentially means change over time. To determine how much change requires a lot more work.
We have to determine the molecular limits of DNA and RNA, consider factors such as epigenetic and other environmental circumstances, etc. As you might imagine, there is no shortage of opinion with respect to what evolution can accomplish.
Many believe that evolutionary mechanisms can, on their own, account for significant changes between populations. These changes are the route through which biological evolution has occurred from, on the evolutionist’s view, the moment just after life began. And therefore, all life is ultimately related.
Others believe that certain organisms must haven been specially created to have distinctions from others. So while a wolf may be in the “evolutionary” lineage of your family chihuahua, a leopard would not be.
As you can see here, there is a multiplicity of ways that experts seek to define evolution, and as scientists learn more about what is actually is, those definitions often become outdated.
The most important takeaway is that we are referring to biological evolution. The semantics matter.
Abiogenesis, on the other hand, means “the origin of life from nonliving matter” according to Webster’s. What’s interesting is that, in support of this definition, they cite David Warmflash et. al. on the following:
According to the conventional hypothesis, the earliest living cells emerged as a result of chemical evolution on our planet billions of years ago in a process called abiogenesis.
Therefore, the “conventional hypothesis” would seem to rely on some sort of evolution, namely chemical evolution, in order for the process of abiogenesis to take place.
Biogenesis simply means “the origin of life.” According to one source, the Law of Biogenesis is:
The principle that living organisms develop only from other living organisms and not from nonliving matter.1
Thus, we are working with two distinct, but related concepts: The arising of organic (living) matter from non-living matter, and its subsequent change over time.
What Evolution DoesEvolution tends to be a moving target. This is hardly surprising. After all, those who hold to this theory expect to account for all biodiversity we observe in the world, over a great amount of the purported 4.5 billion year history of life on Earth.
To be sure, this is no small task, which is why so many question whether it has the goods.
My interview with Dr. Micheal Behe discusses the abilities and inabilities of evolutionary mechanisms is far greater detail than we’ll go in this article, so I would encourage you to check it out.
In short, though, evolution works by the invocation of a number of biological processes, most of which can be summarized by the statement, “random mutation acting on natural selection.”
There is further clarification needed for the concept of “randomness.” There is quite some debate on what is meant by this term. The most common idea is that randomness is akin to “chance.” In other words, the changes that take place are random in that they could have...
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