When
Darwin put forward his theory in the middle of the nineteenth
century, he never mentioned how the origin of life, in other words
the first living cell, came to be. Scientists looking for the
origin of life at the beginning of the twentieth century began to
realize that the theory was invalid. The complex and perfect
structure in life prepared the ground for many researchers to
perceive the truth of creation. Mathematical calculations and
scientific experiment and observation demonstrated that life could
not be the "product of chance," as the theory of
evolution claimed.
With
the collapse of the claim that coincidence was responsible and the
realization that life was "planned," some scientists
began to look for the origin of life in outer space. The
best-known of the scientists who made such claims were Fred Hoyle
and Chandra Wickramasinghe. These two cobbled together a scenario
in which they proposed that there was a force which
"seeded" life in space. According to the scenario, these
seeds were carried through the emptiness of space by gas, dust
clouds or by an asteroid, and eventually reached the Earth, thus
initiating life on this planet.
Nobel
Prize winner Francis Crick, co-discoverer with James Watson of the
double helix structure of DNA, is one of those who had sought the
origin of life in outer space. Crick came to realize that it is
quite unreasonable to expect life to have started by chance, but
he claimed instead that life on Earth was started by intelligent
"extraterrestrial" powers.
As
we have seen, the idea that life came from outer space has
influenced prominent scientists. The matter is now even discussed
in writings and debates on the origin of life. The idea of looking
for the origin of life in outer space can be considered from two
basic perspectives.
Scientific
Inconsistency
The
key to evaluating the "life began in outer space" theory
lies in studying the meteorites that reached the Earth and the
clouds of gas and dust existing in space. No evidence has yet been
found to support the claim that celestial bodies contained
non-earthly creatures that eventually seeded life on Earth. No
research that has been carried out so far has revealed any of the complex macromolecules that appear
in life forms.
Furthermore,
the substances contained in meteorites do not possess a certain
kind of asymmetry found in the macromolecules that constitute
life. For instance, amino acids, which make up proteins, the basic
building blocks of life, should theoretically occur as both left-
and right-handed forms ("optical isomers") in roughly
equal numbers. However, only left-handed amino acids are found in
proteins, whereas this asymmetric distribution does not occur
among the small organic molecules (the carbon-based molecules
found in living things) discovered in meteorites. The latter exist
in both left- and right-handed forms.1
That
is by no means the end of the obstacles to the theory that bodies
and substances in outer space gave rise to life on Earth. Those
who maintain such an idea need to be able to explain why such a
process is not happening now, with the Earth still being bombarded
by meteorites. However, study of these meteorites has not revealed
any "seeding" to confirm the thesis in any way.
Another
question confronting the defenders of the thesis is this: Even if
it is accepted that life was formed by a consciousness in outer
space, and that it somehow reached Earth, how did the millions of
species on Earth come about? That is a huge dilemma for those who
suggest that life began in space.
Alongside
all of these obstacles, no trace has been found in the universe of
a civilization or life form that could have started life on Earth.
No astronomical observations, which have picked up enormous speed
in the last 30 years, have given any indication of the presence of
such a civilization.
What
lies behind the "extraterrestrial" theory?
As
we have seen, the theory that life on Earth was initiated by
extraterrestrials has no scientific basis to it. No discoveries
have been made to confirm or support it. However, when the
scientists who put forward the suggestion began to look in that
direction, they did so because they perceived one important truth.
The
truth in question is that a theory that seeks to explain life on
Earth as being the result of chance is no longer tenable. It has
been realized that the complexity revealed in the life forms on
Earth can only be the product of intelligent design. In fact, the
areas of expertise of the scientists who sought the origin of life
in outer space give a clue as to their rejection of the logic of
the theory of evolution; both are world-renowned scientists: Fred
Hoyle is an astronomer and bio-mathematician, and Francis Crick a
molecular biologist.
One
point which needs to be considered is that those scientists who
look to outer space to find the origin of life do not actually
make any new interpretation of the matter. Scientists such as
Hoyle, Wickramasinghe and Crick began to consider the possibility
that life came from space because they realized that life could
not have come about by chance. Since it was impossible for life on
Earth to have begun by chance, they had to accept the existence of
a source of intelligent design in outer space.
However,
the theory put forward by them on the subject of the origin of
this intelligent design is contradictory and meaningless. Modern
physics and astronomy have revealed that our universe originated
as a result of a huge explosion some 12-15 billion years ago known
as "The Big Bang." All matter in the universe came about
from that explosion. For this reason, any idea that seeks the
origin of life on Earth in another matter-based life form in the
universe has to explain in turn how that form of life came into
existence. The meaning of this is that such a suggestion does not
actually solve the problem, but takes it one step further back.
(For more detail, see Harun Yahya's books The Creation of the
Universe and Timelessness and The Reality of Fate).
As
we have seen, the thesis that "life came from outer
space" does not support evolution, but is a view that reveals
the impossibility of evolution and accepts that there can be no
other explanation for life than intelligent design. The scientists
who suggested this began with a correct analysis but then went
down a false road, and started the silly search for the origin of
life in outer space.
It
is obvious that the concept of "extraterrestrials"
cannot account for the origin of life. Even if we accept for one
moment the hypothesis that "extraterrestrials" actually
exist, it is still clear that they could not have come into being
by chance, but must themselves be the product of intelligent
design. (That is because the laws of physics and chemistry are the
same everywhere in the universe, and they make it impossible for
life to emerge by chance.) This shows that God, Who is beyond
matter and time, and possesses infinite might, wisdom, and
knowledge, created the universe and everything in it.
The
author, who writes under the pen-name Harun Yahya,
has published many books on political, faith-related and scientific issues. Some
of the books of the author have been translated into English, German, French,
Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Albanian, Arabic, Polish, Russian, Bosnian,
Indonesian, Turkish, Tatar, Urdu and Malay and published in the countries
concerned. Visit his website at www.harunyahya.com
or contact him at info@harunyahya.com
1-
Massimo Pigliucci, Rationalists of East Tennessee Book Club
Discussion, October 1997 
