Heterotrophic view, the

The heterotrophic view is one of the most researched theses regarding the emergence of the first life. According to this view, a consuming life form absorbs from its outside environment the organic molecules it needs for the formation of structures and to meet its energy requirements. This theory maintains that the first life form fed on organic compounds that formed spontaneously within a highly complex framework. It had no need for a gene system to enable it to synthesize the simple organic molecules it absorbed from the environment. In other words, this hypothetical first living thing was able to maintain its vital functions as a simple-structured feeder in a complex environment.

According to this view, chemical evolution took place before life formed. As the result of the lengthy evolution of inanimate substances, heterotrophic life forms emerged. Again according to this view, there was no free oxygen in the primeval atmosphere. The gasses assumed to have existed then—ammonia (NH3), methane (CH4), hydrogen (H2) and water vapor (H20)—underwent chemical reactions with high-energy ultraviolet rays and gave rise to more complex compounds. At the end of these reactions, the substances that emerged by chance first combined in tiny droplets of water and were gradually transported to the seas and oceans where, it’s assumed, they gave rise to simple organic compounds.

All the research conducted to confirm this hypothesis has ended in failure. This has not even been possible in controlled laboratory experiments, let alone as the work of chance. (SeeFox Experiment, the and Miller Experiment, the.)