1
Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Re: Did evolution begin with bacteria, or viruses or something completely different?
« on: 17/06/2009 14:16:15 »Hi everyone!
This one really bothers me.
Virus are the most simplest living thing in the world. (Yes, we are not into debating virus as living object or not). One might thought we started with virus. The problem is, viruses need other living cells to cling to.
Bacteria is much more complex then a virus, so it would be hard for me to think bacteria as the first living creature in the soup of life.
I think evolution still have a very tough time to answer the question "how it really started?".
Read "At Home in the Universe" by Stuart Kauffman: when a complex mix of chemistry reaches a sufficient level of complexity, autocatalytic sets begin to emerge and these become the progenitors of life. Read the book and you'll say to yourself, "I ain't drivin' no further. I'm stopping here".