(August 22, 2016 at 11:45 am)Mister Agenda Wrote: It is definitely not a component in the sense (universal common descent) you're implying. An organism could be found tomorrow completely unrelated to other life on earth, and it wouldn't affect the theory of evolution in the slightest. It would just mean life began more than once. It would mean there are two trees of life. Universal common descent is merely a probabilistic conclusion supported by the fact that we've yet to find life that is not genetically related to all other life.
It would be a wonderful find, even though it would almost certainly be unicellular, that would shed much light on the science of evolution and the origin of life.
Sorry, it is very much a component. It is assumed in just about every evolutionary experiment and conclusion every reached. Show me one area it is not assumed and would therefore not be detrimental to the theory if it were found to be incorrect.
