Quote:
Originally Posted by questor
While experiments can show benign mutation for gut improvement, does the research demonstrate a microorganism becoming any other form of life? If mutations can change speciation, do we have some examples existing now where this has happened? Surely now we should have evidence of some new creatures formed by mutations started centuries ago.
|
You toss around the phrase "form of life" as if you know what you were talking about. Evolving a gut improvement doesn't appear to be a "new" form of life in your opinion. So, what IS required for a "form of life" to be "new"? What is the minimum difference required to distinguish between two different "forms of life"? IYNSHO.
Nature does not distinguish between "forms of life". Nature does not distinguish or recognize "species". All of our categorization schemes are just that--categorization schemes, that we invented, as an aid to our understanding. There is NO genetic "switch" or "marker" that identifies or distinguishes among "species".
So any conversation about "new forms of life" must begin by acknowledging that the definitions for "form of life" and "new" are entirely arbitrary.
Technically speaking, every living creature on Earth (excepting those that clone themselves) is a "new form of life" because it is genetically unique.
