Assuming evolution is true, where did the first cell come from?

[Rasler]

I think it is simply something we should be questioning and being more skeptical about instead of jumping onto the boat and assuming what is correct or "logical". What is "logical" may not always be "right".

Correctness is directly related to logic. It is certainly possible that logical things might not always be the correct things. Up until I learned about the energy spectrum when I was 10, I figured that the blue part of a flame would be colder than the yellow part; actually, the blue part is the hottest part of a fire. If a situation seems illogical, then you are simply lacking proper knowledge to explain it. Once you have the necessary knowledge, it becomes "logical" and "correct".

Unanswerable questions are unanswerable. We don't know and can't prove it. Which unfortunately, leaves the floor open for everyone to throw their two cents in. Usually, there are two major parties in these kinds of arguments: Science vs Philosophy (includes religion). Science attempts to explain the situation through observable events, facts, and data. Philosophy attempts to explain the problem through various logics. That's not to say that people are not entitled to have different opinions. While I accept the fact that everyone is entitled to their own ideas, I also hold true that not all ideas are equally valid. For example, if you want to believe that the world is 6,000 years old, go ahead. It's doubtful I could say anything to convince you otherwise.


In my post, I may have neglected to mention that those were my personal opinions, and not me trying to prove that my views were the only acceptable ones. Hell, if a question is unaswerable, and you have an answer that makes you happy, then congratulations. While some of what I said was fact and some of it was theory, I am by no means pushing my viewpoints on others. I'll leave that kind of behaviour to religious fundamentalists.

-edit-
As for your friend's "analysis":

It can't be any worse then another ONE BILLION people believing that the earth POPPED out of NOWHERE for NO apparent REASON AT ALL. That just happened to develop all of the EXACT right amount and mixture of gases, where the Earth and the moon accidentally ended up in the exact RIGHT positions for life to exist on Earth. And then all of a SUDDEN the building blocks of LIFE sparked up, which are little GERM cells, that some how MAGICALLY started to evolve (evolution just MAGICALLY EXISTED BY THIS TIME, WITHOUT ANY EXPLANATION!!), and as this germ cell started to evolve, BODY PARTS MAGICALLY APPEARED, BLOOD MAGICALLY APPEARED (nobody knows where it came from), and over years, the first organisms body parts MAGICALLY all appeared, and MAGICALLY arranged themselves into the proper locations, and then the organism MAGICALLY REPRODUCED asexually, and then reproduced organisms that reproduce sexually RANDOMLY. So then this organism was the birthing organism for all organic life, plants and animals, we don't know what it was, or what it consisted of, but It's the most logical concept we come up with that doesn't include God.

Although you included this for the sake of sarcasm and satire, it is, in fact, highly offensive due to its extreme lack of applied logic. It suggests that things have to happen for a reason, that the scientific community explains things with "magic", and a severe misunderstanding of evolution.

Things don't always happen for a reason. Watch a fish swim in a fishtank. What direction does it swim in? Why does it swim in that direction and not any other? Is it the will of God or a complex series of priorities and instincts imbued deep within the fish's brain? Regardless, it swims that direction, choosing it above all other directions, possibly for reasons unknowable (even to it), but most probably for no reason at all.

The scientific community does not use the concept of "magic." Magic is a term used by ignorant peoples to explain away a counfounding phenomenon. Science does not "explain away", it explains. Yes, we have no definitive evidence where the origins of life began. It is unmeasurable. We cannot collect data. Evolution, despite being a theory, acts as a natural law, akin to gravity. Things change over time to better survive their environments. It's logical, and there is some empirical evidence, but not enough to be absolutely definitive. As a natural law, it is a fundamental fact of nature, and has existed and will exist as long as life exists.

The creator of this analysis is also woefully inaccurate in his notion of what the theory of evolution is. The Earth, moon, sun, air composition, and all other variables weren't "magically" the right amount. The conditions were what they were, and life evolved based on the environment. Oceans don't exist so that fish may use their gills and swim around. Fish have gills and fins so that they may live in the ocean. Evolution doesn't happen "magically". A fish doesn't wake up one morning with lungs, arms, and claws. It's a very gradual change over an extended period of time so that that animal's species may better survive in a changing environment. Genes mutate among generations (fact), sometimes resulting in positive mutations (fact), where that animal of a species is now able to better survive in a changing environment (fact). Because it survives better, its now-superior genes are more likely to be passed on (fact), gradually resulting in very minor changes in the species over a long period of time (fact). This is not to say that evolution is necessarily correct, just that it does makes sense.