My personal thoughts are that the concept of evolution (biological and other) is all encompassing. I summarize the definition, in my "signature", as "Evolution - Changes in the environment, caused by the interactions of the components of the environment". Now the largest unit of "environment" is the entire universe as we know it. That "environment" in turn can be broken down into smaller and smaller "sub-environments".
The origins of life and the thereafter evolution of life can be looked upon as being one environment. BUT that environment can be broken down into the sub-environments of "life origins" and "life evolution". Now the knowledge of life's origin may indeed be a murky subject, but to make the assumption that life did indeed have an origin is a pretty safe assumption. Maybe even, that origin involved a Godly input.
Now that the origin is assumed, it can then be studied what then happened and how it happened. That is the fact and the theory of (biological) evolution.
The above "environment" jargon is of my own creation. Others may well not approve of such.
Political history analogy:
We can study and understand much about 20th century history without knowing much if anything about 19th century history. And, in turn, without knowing much about 18th century and even earlier history. But it all is connected together, and what happened in the earlier centuries certainly did influence what happened later.
Or something like that.
Moose
ps: Click on my avatar for a larger version. The current version is illegible in the tiny form.
Professor, geology, Whatsamatta U
Evolution - Changes in the environment, caused by the interactions of the components of the environment.
"Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will piss on your computer." - Bruce Graham
"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." - John Kenneth Galbraith
"Nixon was a professional politician, and I despised everything he stood for ” but if he were running for president this year against the evil Bush-Cheney gang, I would happily vote for him." - Hunter S. Thompson
"I know a little about a lot of things, and a lot about a few things, but I'm highly ignorant about everything." - Moose
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