Why is the history of life on earth controversial?
1 Answer
It is a philosophical issue that affects people's world view.
Explanation:
The Material Realism Philosophy says that everything must happen by natural cause. The philosophy says that matter and energy are all that exists, ever has or will exist. Histories of life based on this philosophy assert that matter and energy are all that matter.
Not all people or scientists accept the philosophy of Material Realism and have a world view that the universe is an open system and that there is more to existence than matter and energy.
How life could have originated and changed only by natural causes is also controversial. There is no agreement among the scientific community about how random natural causes could create life or change it in beneficial changes.
There are arguments between the proponents of DNA first, RNA first and proteins first theories. Presently none of these theories work out theoretically and there is no empirical evidence to support any of the theories.
The DNA first theory has a problem in that DNA replication requires proteins to accomplish the replication coded by the complex information in the DNA fraser Miminal Gene Components 618.
The RNA first theory doesn't work. RNA does not function well as a protein enzyme necessary for life. being able to only produce a very few reactions. Quastler The Emergence of Biological Organization 16.
The protein first model faces the improbability of reverse engineering. A protein that came about by random accidental changes would have to create a gene that would reproduce the protein exactly. Emergence of Biological Organization 7
Scientists cannot agree on how totally random accidental changes can account for the history of life, creating controversy. People who do not accept the philosophy of material realism do not accept the conclusion based on an unproven assumption that seems unreasonable to them.
