> I'm really not sure what you mean by this. If you assume the major groups of life evolved from common ancestors, the fossil record doesn't offer a lot of hel

> I'm really not sure what you mean by this. If you assume the major groups of life evolved from common ancestors, the fossil record doesn't offer a lot of help to fill in the early details (i.e. transitional types). Also, you have the problem of the origin of the first single-cell organism. > You don't see a distinction between life on another planet and supernatural phenomena...? My point is that insisting on it being an alien life form that seeded life on earth (as opposed to the God hypothesis) is kind of begging the question. Philosophically, what is the difference between an unknown alien life form and God as the origin of life, other than different starting assumptions?